


A Life As Beautiful

by CallMeHux



Series: Life Beautiful [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Dad!Murphy, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Modern AU, murven - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-19 08:44:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8198690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeHux/pseuds/CallMeHux
Summary: When Raven meets Murphy at her friend's Fourth of July picnic, it seems like it's hate at first sight.  To Raven's surprise, that doesn't seem to last the day. And as the days tick by, Raven finds Murphy - and his son, Ethan - to far more important than she could have thought possible.This is a companion fic to This Beautiful Life, showcasing select days in the development of the Murven relationship.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> At long last, here's the companion piece to This Beautiful Life. It's not absolutely necessarily to read This Beautiful Life first, but you might want to for some extra insight.
> 
> Many many thanks to my betas, iamblacklocked and @bfl1201, for catching all my errors!

**July 4, 2016**

Waking up on a Monday morning when she didn't have to go into work was a wonderful luxury.  After months and months of setting up a client's new laboratories in a state of the art campus out in Phoenix, Raven continued to revel in the fact that she was back to a normal, sane, human work schedule which included actually taking off national holidays like the Fourth of July. 

Not that she didn't enjoy the hell out of her job.  In fact, she basically was living the dream working for Mecha Solutions.  When her university advisor, Jacapo Sinclair, had started the company, he'd offered Raven a job immediately, with a salary she'd be hardpressed to match working a shittier job as a junior engineer in some bigger firm.  But it was one thing to work on innovative projects and another to work day and night to meet a near-impossible deadline that the sales department had promised Mecha's biggest customer.

Whatever, she'd done it, she'd moved back home and, thanks to Finn being in Europe fucking what's-her-name, she had his very nice luxury apartment to herself via sublet.  The price wasn't great, but she could afford it and she had to admit the view from the balcony took her breath away.  She liked to perch out there with her laptop on the clear nights, futzing with her own designs or catching up on her shows.

And it had been furnished.  When she'd hastily moved to Phoenix for the project, she basically just sold all her (cheap) furniture and packed away most of her meager belongings into the Griffins' storage room.  There just wasn't a point in paying rent for her furniture, especially the discount stuff she could easily replace when the time came.  Finn's abrupt trip to France, where according to Facebook he was enjoying his time in Nice, came at the perfect time.  She didn't have to scramble to find an apartment or fill it with serviceable furniture.  

Long story short, this apartment was fantastic.  The building was in the center of downtown Arkadia, close to everything practically, came with a parking space in the garage underneath and a concierge desk.  Finn's apartment was close to the elevator, so lugging in groceries wasn't so bad, and, in a truly innovative move, had the washer and dryer  _ right in the walk-in closet _ .  No carrying of laundry  _ ever _ .

Plus his bed was super comfortable.

Raven rolled over, grabbing for her phone and eyeing the time balefully.  She was due at Clarke's for the barbeque in just a couple of hours, but still took her time getting up, showered and dressed for the day.  It was part lackadaisical attitude, part dragging her feet at the thought of spending time with the assortment of folks Clarke had told her she was inviting that left her running a little late, as usual.  She really didn't relish spending her time-off with strangers, but she generally trusted Clarke's judgment about people so she hadn't been too motivated to find an excuse to bail.

Except about Finn.  But they had both been wrong about him.

Still, she dithered enough that she knew she was going to be technically late when she made a last minute check in the mirror.  No makeup, hair in a ponytail, grey tank top, black shorts - this was Raven's summer uniform.  In cooler weather, she'd wear pants and a hoodie too, but it was basically the same.  She only had fancy clothes for going out and some business suits for the few meetings with clients she had to attend before it was time to really work.

She hastily slipped on her necklace, the folded bird charm Finn had made her in high school, and grabbed the bag of plates, cups and other disposable tableware that constituted her contribution to the picnic before rushing out the door.  Even with her bum leg, she was in her car within minutes, driving to the nicest suburb in town.

That was thanks to Abby Griffin, of course, who'd been her surgeon after shrapnel from a car accident lodged in her back. Clarke had insisted, getting her mother involved as soon as she'd visited her friend in the hospital.  Soon, Raven was transferred to Arkadia General and undergoing surgery with the best orthopedic surgeon in the state. Now, her lower right leg was numb from the knee down, but it was healthy and she only experienced pain when she pushed herself too far.  With a brace of her own design, as well as the tireless physical therapy exercises she continued to do every other day, she was independent and living a nearly fully-functional life.

Fuck that.  She was fully functional, just a little slow sometimes.  And a few sex positions were now too uncomfortable.  But other than that, fully-functional.

Not that she was having sex at the moment.  One of the bonuses of Finn's place was the idea that she could have sex with guys on every surface of her ex's apartment.  But ever since the blow-up of her "relationship" with Wick, she'd been in a terrible dry spell of her own making, not wanting to deal with needy guys or disgusting chauvinists that seemed to be the only men interested in one-night stands or actually casual hook-ups.  That's all she'd wanted with Wick and, despite his agreement, he'd soon started hassling her about a bigger commitment.

And it wasn't surprising she was thinking about this while driving to Clarke's.  Because Clarke had a ridiculously hot nanny whom she wasn't sleeping with, for reasons that made very little sense to Raven.  She wasn't sure how her friend could stand it, honestly, living in the same house as a guy who looked like that who she also knew was completely decent.

Raven knew she'd have slept with him already if it was her, a thought she tried to banish from her head as she pulled up to Clarke's.  Anyone could see that Bellamy was just as attracted to Clarke as Clarke was to Bellamy, so Raven definitely would not be hitting on the hot nanny.

Well, maybe just a little, to rile up her friend.  That's what friends were for, right?

From the pile of unrecognizable cars in the Griffins' driveway, Raven soon figured out she was the last to arrive and winced.  Who knew that all the other people Clarke invited would be so punctual?

Clarke answered the door cheerfully despite that.  "Come on in, we're all out back," she said with a welcoming wave.  

"Sorry I'm late," Raven began as she handed over the bag of supplies.

"Nah, Murphy's still not here with the drinks and Bellamy hasn't even gotten started cooking yet," Clarke assured her as she lead the way through the enormous house out to the back porch and then down the stairs to the patio.

"So, uh, who are all these people?" Raven asked, her eyes sweeping over the unfamiliar folks.

"Well, you know Bellamy," Clarke began with a wave, adding a meaningful look that Raven took to understand she didn't want to be teased about him again.  

_ Message received and promptly filed to the trash _ , Raven thought with a grin.   

"The girl next to him is his sister, Octavia.  And you know Wells, but that's Luna, his new girlfriend."   She paused, then added brightly, "I like her, but she's..um, crunchy."

"Oh boy."  Raven wasn't really down with the whole Earth Mother vibe and she was glad Clarke gave her a heads-up.  Give her technology and progress every time.

"Miller, the guy with the beard, is Bellamy's friend, an old Army buddy.  The other two over by Charlie are Monty and Jasper.  Jasper's the pharmacist guy I've told you about and Monty's his friend, a pathologist at Mount Weather," Clarke continued as they clomped to the bottom of the stairs.  

"Cute," Raven answered, in a generic all-encompassing term for the trio.  She picked out Jasper, whom Clarke had previously described as looking like a "respectable stoner," and figured the guy he was half-draped on while he laughed at some joke had to be Monty.  Miller seemed like the only grownup in the group, or at least did until he stood, holding a water gun.

Raven was about to ask about that but Clarke had already moved on.  "And these folks at the table fussing over Cam are Harper, my friend from the hospital, Maya, the dark-haired one, she's Jasper's girlfriend, and Bryan, who is Miller's boyfriend."  

"Ah.  They all seem a little baby-happy, so I'll just stay over at this end," Raven quipped.  She liked children in the general sense, and didn't really have a problem with them, but maternal or kid-interested she was not.

"Raven!"

That said, she couldn't help the grin that followed.  Cole was something of an exception for her.  The soon-to-be eight year-old was smart as hell, funny, and interested in everything she was interested in.  Charlie was, in some ways, exactly the same, but she'd met the teen when he was in a stage where everything his sister liked, as well as all of her friends, were uncool, so he hadn't formed an attachment to her like Cole.

It was really nice to be adored and thought of as perfect by someone, even if he was in elementary school.

Cole launched himself at her, wrapping her legs in a big hug, which Clarke immediately tried to end.  "Come on, Cole, let her breathe," she said with a chuckle.

Raven ignored her, just like Cole.  "Hey, it's my little guy!"  Wrapping an arm around him in turn, she asked, "Build any rocket ships lately?"

"I've been trying!" Cole whined up at her, putting his chin on her belly.  "You should come over more and help me."  If Cole had his way, Raven would live with them and be a party to all his projects.

Before she could answer, she felt a tug on the hem of her shirt and found herself looking down at another little kid.  Like the Griffin kids, he had blond hair, but a darker sort of blond, and he had blue eyes, but again, a different hue.  His were lighter, with almost green flecks in them.  With his high, rounded cheekbones that clearly spoke about some sort of Asian ancestry, she knew this wasn't a cousin she hadn't met before.

"Yeah?" she prompted him.  

Raven was certain she knew what his question would be.  Most kids who had the courage to talk to her asked her what was wrong with her leg, or why did she walk funny, so she steeled herself in preparation.

But it wasn't really curiosity that she saw in his wide eyes.  It was...concern?

"Does it hurt?" he asked, small voice laden not with pity, but sympathy.

Raven could hear Clarke's intake of breath, but she wanted to handle this one on her own.  No one ever asked her before if she was in pain and she wanted to assure this cute little guy that she wasn't suffering.

"Sometimes, it can.   I had an accident and it hurt after that a lot, but I had a operation and it's better now.  Not all the way better, but I'm okay."   She figured that was a simple, but accurate explanation someone his age could understand.

He seemed relieved to hear she was doing okay too from the way the tension left his small frame.  Curiosity overcame him next as his eyes dropped to take in her brace.

"Does that help you walk?"

Raven brushed her hand over the back of Cole's head as he finally let go of her legs, but nodded at the other child.  "Yeah.  I can't feel my lower leg, so this helps me get around."

"Like Iron Man's friend in the movie," the kid replied with excitement, beaming.

Raven grinned in response to his infectious smile.  "Kind of, but my brace doesn't really do fancy things."  She could dream though, about building the kind of exoskeleton so many superheroes seemed to have in the movies.

The kid just nodded eagerly.  "Wanna play with us?" he asked, with Cole yelling his agreement.

And damned if Raven didn't want to play with these kids.  Cole's friend seemed just as smart as he was and playing with a couple of clever little guys sounded a lot better than meeting new adults, especially those who were interested in actually having kids or vegetarianism.

"Sure, what're we playing?"

Cole answered with another shout.  "Water war!  You'll be on our team," he informed her, then launched into an explanation of the water gun fight they were all about to have.

Raven couldn't believe it and aimed a grin at her friend.  "Really?  You got everyone water guns and stuff?"  She couldn't even picture Clarke holding a water gun, much less buying enough for everyone here and arranging for them all to have a water fight.

She restrained her laugh when Clarke answered with an annoyed, "Well, I didn't, but I think it's a great idea.  It's fun."  

"Oh yeah, you're all about the fun," Raven replied teasingly, successfully getting Clarke to flush with embarrassment.  She was about to add that she was glad to see Clarke loosening up a bit when one of the other women - she thought it was Maya - asked about something to drink.  

While her friend bustled off, again in lock-step with Bellamy as they headed into the house talking about some guy named Murphy being late, Raven took a brief moment to marvel at the turn of her life.  When she found out that Finn had cheated on her with some blonde, she never expected that she'd end up liking the blonde more than the guy she'd been with practically all of her life.  But Clarke was warm and forthright in a way that Finn never was and, combined with their mutual and utter mortification at having been used by him, Raven had just naturally gravitated to the young woman's side.

Plus, she didn't look it, but that girl could hold her liquor pretty well.

And while Raven herself had felt gun shy about relationships after Finn, it was nothing compared to how closed-off Clarke was afterwards.  When Wells had  _ finally _ made his move, Clarke had even shut him down, a guy she loved and trusted implicitly, in favor of hook-ups with people that she could keep at arm's-length.  Raven always told Clarke that just because Finn had done them wrong didn't mean they couldn't trust anyone again, but watching her friend with the nanny, she suspected that Clarke was already moving in the right direction.  Finally.

"Okay, tell me the rules of this game again," Raven directed Cole, suddenly mindful that she had two eager kids practically bouncing around her.  "And," she added, turning to the other kid.  "What's your name?"

He just blinked, apparently surprised by the question.  "Ethan!" he introduced himself.

"Pleased to meet you, Ethan.  I'm Raven," she replied, sticking out her hand.

He shook it with a big grin on his face, apparently thrilled to be shaking hands like an adult.  "Nice to meet you!"

Raven managed to get into a seat while Cole and Ethan told her the rules once more and she leaned around the pair to eye the stack of water guns and water balloons the guys had made up.  By the time Clarke had returned from the kitchen and they'd figured out the teams, Raven had a good idea of how she might best be able to contribute to the war effort especially because she was on a team with the boys, Clarke's little sister Cassidy, Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia.

When the other group led by Jasper moved off and Clarke was already approaching her, Raven offered, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be a tactical liability here, but I might have an idea that'll help us. If my two little guys here want to help."

The boy nearly rattled her ears off with their shout.  "Yes!"

"What's the plan?" Clarke asked with an indulgent smile, eyes on the kids.

Raven dropped her voice, leaning closer because she wanted to make sure other folks didn't overhear.  "Those guys made about a hundred water balloons, maybe more.  It's too many to carry, so they're going to have a stash, the way we're going to have a stash.  We steal their stash, attack from behind."

Clarke appeared intrigued and nodded.  "That's not bad.  But how to protect our stash?"

"What are we talking about?" came that deliciously deep voice of Bellamy.  But Raven got an even more interesting view when she turned to find the shirtless nanny approaching their small group, his well-defined torso on display.  He was all warm, toasted skin and intriguing freckles and Raven found herself wondering what his abs tasted like.  But she figured that it probably wasn't appropriate to ask because he'd likely drop the water balloons he was carrying in his shirt, his sister was right behind him fully armed with the team's water balloons and, judging from Clarke's expression, her friend would be really disappointed if she didn't get to try them first.

Raven was impressed that Clarke managed to reply to his question in a normal-sounding voice.  "Strategy."

But Raven couldn't help her own reply, gaze firmly fixed on the display of a singularly hot guy like Bellamy.  "Nice," she complimented him with a grin.

He certainly didn't seem to mind the attention, giving her an amused smirk in return.  But it didn't distract him from talking out the plan with her and Clarke and, in the end, they figured out how to make it work between the three of them.  

"But we need someone to play bait," he pointed out

"I can do that," Clarke immediately offered.  She waved between the two Blakes as she continued.  "You and Octavia can draw off Miller.  If Raven and the boys do a good job-"

"We will!" shouted the pair, since they seemed incapable of doing anything but yelling.  Still, Raven grinned at them.  She was glad they were having fun.

"Then I and Cassi will be able to draw in Jasper and the rest.  Especially if Charlie's with that group. He's going to be drawn to targeting his sisters," finished Clarke.

"That's true.  I'd want to make sure O got soaked if we weren't in the same team," Bellamy admitted, pretending to sway when his sister socked him on the arm in retaliation.

Bellamy gave everyone their allotment of weapons, which included only three balloons for Raven and two medium sized guns.  "You sure you're okay with this?" he asked her.

"It's my plan!" Raven countered with a laugh.  "I wouldn't have offered to sacrifice myself if I didn't think it was a good idea."

"As long you're sure," he countered, mouth pulling in a smile.

Raven thought it was pretty sweet that he was checking in with her and when he went over to arm Clarke, she sized up the pair as they bantered.

"Ready to be a badass, Clarke?"  His grin was infectious.

"Aye aye, corporal," she chirped back at him.

Bellamy's expression was priceless.  Chagrined, he told her, "Aye aye is the Navy, Clarke.  You're killing me here."

It was such a perfect set-up, Raven started talking before she even thought it through.  "She's not the one walking around without a shirt."   

Octavia guffawed beside her.

Clarke went absolutely crimson, warning her silently to, "Knock it off."   

Bellamy just gave her a smirk as he gestured and made a little bow.  "How else would you enjoy the show, Raven?"

She just shrugged in reply to Clarke and gave Bellamy an appreciative grin.  At least he understood how to be teased.

Once they started moving to their positions for the water war, Clarke made sure she walked by Raven and whispered hotly to her friend.  "Seriously, stop with that."   She'd warned Raven weeks ago that she didn't want to be teased about her attraction to the nanny but, one half-hearted attempt to date someone else aside, Raven suspected that Clarke was pretty gone for him.

From everything Raven had seen, Clarke wasn't wrong to be crushing on the nanny.  He clearly thought the Griffin kids, and kids in general, were the top priority, he seemed to be just as much a homebody as Clarke herself, and he was intelligent, someone you could have a conversation with when you weren't fucking that deliciously hot body.  Raven just couldn't see what Clarke's problem really was.  How many people had met their significant others at work?  There was nothing wrong with nudging her friend in the right direction.

"What?  If you're not going to appreciate the hell out of that display, I am," Raven answered.  "You had a date a few weeks ago.  I've been without for months."

That was rather unfortunately true.  After the Wick flame-out, Raven had exactly one fling with a contractor on the jobsite out in Phoenix, but that ended weeks before her return to Arkadia.

But Clarke was unmoved by her drought.  "Please.  You're a sex camel.  You have a ton of sex when you're with someone so you can make it across your sexual deserts easily."

It was such an apt metaphor, Raven couldn't help but laugh.  "A sex camel?  Come on Griffin, that was...pretty damned good."

Clarke pressed her shoulder to Raven's, a smile tugging at her lips.  "We're friends for a reason and it's only maybe ten percent because of the whole Finn situation."  But her expression soon changed to that of Stern Mother Friend. "But seriously, stop.  He's not just a piece of meat."

At least five different retorts came to mind, all of them sexual in nature.  Somehow, Raven found it within herself to restrain her tongue and asked instead,  "Do you know how many things I could do with that statement?"

"Okay, yes, but please, stop.  He's a person, not just a hot body."

"So you agree he's hot?"

" _ Rave _ .  Go, start your ruse thing," she told her in a clipped voice.

Raven smirked and trundled off, making sure her weapons were at the ready before she charged forward at the sound of Jasper yelling, "Go!"  While Bellamy and his sister ran for his friend, Miller, to separate him from his group, Raven made sure she presented the most compelling target for the rest of the other team, yelling and firing and lobbing balloons so they were forced to deal with her first. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cole and Ethan chasing each other around the playhouse, as if they had becoming too distracted trying to get each other wet to play with the whole team.  Sure enough, Jasper's team ignored them to focus on the adults, particularly Raven, and once the coast was clear, the boys made a run for the other team's stash of balloons.

When she was thoroughly soaked, both from two water balloons and numerous shots, Raven flipped Jasper's team the bird with a good-natured grin and stalked over to the sidelines.  When the other team then focused on getting Clarke and her little sister, Raven motioned to Cole and Ethan and they ran over with their stolen goods.

"Okay, now we tie bunches of them together to make water bombs," she directed, tying four of the balloons together so that they could see.  Once they figured out how she was doing it, their little fingers were better able to make the knots.  They had completed at least six water bombs when Bellamy and Octavia ran up after taking out Miller, who shuffled back to the patio.

"Here, you've got to hold them this way, or they're going to break too early," Raven cautioned, as she parceled out the bombs carefully.

"But we have more balloons!" Ethan noted.

"Right, but we don't need to make them  _ all _ bombs," Raven explained, offering to stuff one balloon in the pockets of his little cargo shorts.

"Bellamy!  Bring guns!" came Clarke's yell, the signal that they were close to being taken out.  Bellamy and Octavia rushed off to attack Jasper's team from behind, with Cole hot on their heels, a bomb in his hands and two water guns stuffed into the waistband of his shorts.  

Ethan was about to take off with them when Raven reminded him, "Hey, your gun!" 

He flashed her a smile of thanks that just made her heart clench, grabbing the gun from her hand and then running away.

Raven hadn't known she could feel so...irrationally affectionate with a kid.  Maybe she saw a little of herself in him.  He was obviously really intelligent; she'd been surprised when he told her he was only six.  But he was already a grade ahead in school.  

And it was clear that his parents were taking really good care of him too, not like her mom.  He looked well-fed, with bright eyes.  His clothes were clean and relatively new, since he was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of BB-8 on it.  Nothing scrawny, or haunted, or wary in that kid.

By the time Ethan joined in the attack, it was already pretty much over, but he and Cole did enjoy chasing each other around for real in the aftermath.  They were screaming and squealing in joy, which was almost loud enough to drown out Jasper's complaining that Raven helped when she was out.

Fortunately, no one else gave a crap about that, so that Raven was given ample opportunity to watch as Bellamy and Clarke chatted a bit.  Her friend colored during the exchange, then watched appreciatively as Bellamy jogged towards the patio to begin cooking while Clarke continued to manage the water war.

Raven gave her friend a significant look, which Clarke resolutely ignored, and the rest of them went back to trying to make sure everyone was sopping wet by the time the food was ready.  At some point, Raven began talking with Monty about what kind of design would be able to shoot water balloons without having be to reloaded each time.  Charlie and the younger boys also got involved, until Cole tried to sneak attack his older brother with a balloon to the back and Charlie spent the remaining time chasing Ethan and Cole around to their delight.

When Raven went to sit at the table finally, next to Cole and Ethan by their mutual insistence, she found herself across from a slim guy with a sharp nose, thin lips, pale blue eyes and light brown hair that probably could have used a trim.  

"Folks, this is Murphy," Bellamy introduced the man as he set two plates of food in front of the younger boys.  They each got a slider and a hotdog, along with grilled vegetables and some potato salad that looked pretty intriguing. 

Looking around the table, Raven also saw a regular salad, kebabs and skewered shrimp.  "This is an excessive amount of food," she declared approvingly.

"No reason to cook small with this crowd," Bellamy agreed with a grin as folks started to serve themselves.

Everything tasted great too, Raven found, making her glad that she'd skipped any kind of breakfast.  She tried a little bit of everything, agreeing wholeheartedly with Octavia when she recommended the kebabs especially.  Plus she had the entertainment of watching Bellamy and Clarke flirt while pretending they weren't and of watching Cole flirt openly with every woman at the table.

Cole was definitely her kind of kid.

The guy across from her didn't say much, just shoveled his food in his mouth and watched others at the table interact.  She got the distinct impression that he was assessing everyone, judging them all and finding most of them wanting in some way or another.

Raven did that too, a lot, so she could hardly call him out on it.

Just as Clarke was warming up on explaining to the group why she and her siblings all had those those ridiculous C-names, Murphy pushed away from the table, making it sway slightly and causing a can of soda to spill onto the baby.  He mumbled a, "Sorry," before retreating into the house and Raven shook her head as Clarke sprang up to grab Cam and get him into a change of clothing.

Raven grabbed a couple of napkins to help Harper clean up the puddle, then excused herself to go use the bathroom.  By the time she got up the stairs and over to the bathroom by the guest room, Murphy was just walking out into the hallway.

Unfortunately, between her placement in the hallway and the way he hugged the corner as he turned, his shoulder managed to slam into hers.  She tried to jerk to the right, but that left most of her weight on her bad leg.  She could feel herself start to fall and reached out instinctively to find something to hold onto, trying to steady herself enough to rebalance.

Her hand curled around a surprisingly firm bicep and she heard Murphy grunt, felt him tense as he suddenly took on some of her weight.  Raven tried to right herself quickly, relaxing only when she was certain she wouldn't topple over.

She opened her mouth to apologize for running into him and thank him for not letting her fall, but he snapped at her first as he pulled his arm roughly from her grasp.

"Get off me!  Watch where you're going!"

Raven straightened, the old, familiar fire of anger at people who felt free to denigrate her burning instantly hot.  "Same to you, jerkface!  Who the fuck turns a corner like that?" she retorted.

He just sneered at her.  "Someone who doesn't want to be standing around here with you."

"Likewise," she spit out.  "Why don't you get the hell out of my way?"

"Fuck you too."  He pushed past her, though didn't make actual contact with her again, and stomped away.

Seething, Raven made it into the bathroom and glared at her own reflection in the mirror.  She hated when people made a fuss over her leg, but Murphy's complete lack of understanding that she wasn't as mobile as a normal person infuriated her.  She wasn't really asking for special treatment; even if she'd had the full use of both of her legs, she might've reached out to steady herself anyway.

When she finally returned to the patio, she was still riled up.  The sight of Murphy lounging easily in his chair, one arm slung over the back and the other resting on the table, hand cupping a perspiring beer bottle, only served to piss her off more.  Who was he to make her feel crappy at  _ her _ friend's house?

Since the kids had apparently returned to playing in the yard, she had no compunctions in walking by his chair and "accidentally" bumping it so that some of his beer spilled on his shirt when he went to take a sip.

"Sorry," she told him cheerfully. Raven felt very justified in her petty vengeance, since he'd spilled that soda on Cam and hadn't offered to help clean.

But the fact that they now had an audience didn't seem to deter Murphy.  As she resumed her seat and reached for the shrimp, he just wiped at the spill on his shirt and said, "Yeah, well, gotta make allowance for all types of folks, right?"

Raven felt Harper tense up beside her, but fired back right away.  "Sure do.  That's why you're here, presumably.  Affirmative action plan for jerkoffs."

She thought she saw a glint of admiration in his eyes for her, but she dismissed it as his expression settled into a glare which she returned in full measure as she speared a shrimp to eat.

Clarke had returned with Cam, settling the baby on her lap and murmuring something to Bellamy.  Raven couldn't hear his reply, but did hear Bryan pipe up.  "You missed it," he told their host.  Cole was trying to convince Harper to be his new doctor."

"Oh yeah?" Clarke replied with a smile.

"He asked what kind of doctor I was, and when I told him I was a kid doctor, he said that he'd like it if I was his doctor more than Doctor Jackson," Harper quickly confirmed with a laugh.

But not everyone was so happy with Raven's little lothario.  "By my count, he literally hit on every woman here today," Jasper complained as he pulled another can of soda out of the cooler.

"I kind of admire him.  He's got guts.  Way more than I do.  He makes it look easy," Monty interjected with a shake of his head at the skills of a little kid.

Then Miller said something that Raven just had to respond to.  "Just so you know, if you ever want to give Cole up, Bryan and I will give him a good home."

While Clarke laughed, "I'll keep that in mind, thanks," Raven just shook her head.  "You'd have to fight me for him.  Clearly, he's mine."  And had been since they'd met when he was all of two years old.  No johnny-come-lately was going to usurp her completely fictional claim to her favorite of Clarke's siblings.  "Plus I can teach him things you can't about mechanics and rockets."

Clarke of course had to burst everyone's bubble.  "I can put you both on the list for babysitting volunteers," she said, only to smirk at their sheepish expressions.  "Or maybe not."

Raven was going to reply, but the words were stolen right out of her mouth as she watched Ethan run up to Murphy's chair and tug on the man's arm.  Never in a million years would she have expected to hear him say, "Daddy, can I sleep here at Cole's house tonight?"

Now she knew what it was like to have your jaw drop open in surprise.

Murphy just shook his head at the boy, but his expression was all fatherly consideration, not grumpy disdain like she would have imagined.  "Besides the fact that I don't think Cole asked Clarke or Bellamy’s permission to offer that, you've got day camp tomorrow.  No dice.  But I'll talk to them and work out a day when you can, or when he can sleep at our place, okay?"  

Ethan sighed heavily in response, disappointment clouding his features, but nodded at his father and ran off without trying to convince Murphy otherwise.  

Still, Raven couldn't quite believe it.   "Wait a minute," she started, using her fork for emphasis as she pointed to the bastard across the table.  "You're telling me that sweet, intelligent little guy is yours?"

He just fucking smirked as he leaned back in his chair, even took a sip of his beer before answering.  "Yep, I made him."

The next words just flew out of her mouth.  "Where did he come from?  Because he's great and you're an asshole."

That actually drew laughs from the people who were supposed to be  _ his _ friends, which made Raven feel a little better about swearing when kids were vaguely around.  Certainly, Murphy, one of the actual parents, didn't seem to mind, keeping that damned smirk on his face as he shrugged at her.  "Maybe I'm a better dad than I am a person."

The fact was that Raven had a hard time believing that Ethan, well-cared-for, empathetic and bright Ethan was related to this guy, much less raised by him.  "Maybe it's his mother."

She startled back against her seat when Bellamy and Miller started to crack up.  It even took Miller a moment to find the words, explaining, "Forrester was the meanest, snarkiest sergeant in the division.  She could beat all three of us together, just chew us up and spit us out for breakfast.  No fu-freaking way Ethan's good attitude came from her."

Bellamy agreed with a firm nod.  "Ethan's basically a changeling, except that he looks like his parents so he can't be."

Conversation turned to other things, but Raven couldn't stop staring at the contradiction across the table from her.  How could someone who was so casually rude to a stranger be a good parent?  A parent who managed to raise a son who was thoughtful and cared about how other people felt?  She couldn't understand it at all, given that her own mother wasn't able to restrain her hateful impulses when she had Raven. 

So she watched Murphy closely during the rest of the meal, and later too, when the whole group went upstairs to the second story front porch where they could see the town's fireworks display.  Everyone had a plastic dish filled with cobbler topped with ice cream and people were chatting pleasantly as they waited for the fireworks to start.

Murphy and Miller exchanged a series of low-grade insults, the way guys seemed to do, but otherwise his father was making sure Ethan had a space in the front, for the best view of the coming fireworks.

"Daddy.  What makes fireworks different colors?" Ethan wanted to know, his little face puzzled, a bit of the ice cream smeared around his mouth.

"We can look it up when we get home, but I think I remember that it's different ingredients mixed in the powder.  I think magnesium, for example, makes white fireworks.  Kind of like how food coloring works," Murphy answered after a moment's thought.  

Raven couldn't help but explain further, leaning against a nearby column.  "Your dad's sort of right," she said, drawing the surprised attention of both of the Murphys.  "They use metal salts to make the fireworks different colors.  But they're not mixed in; they're usually in a separate little container inside the firework surrounded by the explosive.  When it goes off, it heats up the salts, which become 'excited' and emit energy at certain wavelengths which we perceive as color."

Murphy gaped at her while Ethan's brow furrowed.  "Is that like when we see something blue it's because the blue light is bouncing off of it and into our eyes?"

"Yeah, exactly," she grinned at him, impressed that he knew that.  "It's emitting a wavelength of energy that we see as blue.  So a blue firework has copper in it.  Barium makes a firework green.  Strontium makes it red," Raven continued.

" _ Cool _ ," Ethan enthused, bouncing a little and grinning up at his father.  "She's so cool."  

Murphy just grunted in reply, expression veiled.

Raven grinned as Ethan turned back to her.  "Are you a scientist?  Is that why you know stuff?"

"I'm an engineer, actually," she informed him, then leaned over as if to tell him a secret.  "Actually, I'm kind of more like a mechanic.  Engineers think up stuff, then I take it, build it, and fix it so it actually works."

"So you don't think up stuff?"

Raven chuckled.  "I can and do sometimes, but mostly my job is to make other people's ideas into something that will actually work."

Ethan looked intrigued but leaned back against his father's legs, making his little stomach stick out.  "Daddy's job isn't so interesting.  He just sits at a desk and writes stuff," he confided.

Raven looked askance at Murphy, who shrugged a shoulder.  "I'm a paralegal.  Hard to explain that job to an adult, much less a kid."

"Well, I'm an adult, explain it to me," Raven countered.

Murphy snorted, shaking his head, but he responded to her challenge.  "Most of my job is checking dockets of lawsuits, calendaring due dates, preparing legal documents to be filed, like subpoenas and motions, and cite checking - that's making sure previous cases and other sources of authority, like texts and articles - are properly cited so that a judge can find the reference.  I also do a lot of proofreading for other things."

"Writing stuff," Ethan summarized, rolling his eyes.

"And you'd rather build stuff?" Raven asked Ethan.  She knew that feeling.

The boy nodded vigorously.  "Daddy buys me stuff so I can build, like Legos!"

"I can see why you and Cole get along so well," Raven agreed.  "What about your mommy?"

Murphy sucked in a breath but Ethan responded easily, his near empty bowl drooping in his hands so that some of the leftover ice cream threatened to spill out.  "She died when I was a baby but she was a soldier, like Daddy used to be.  She was a very good soldier," he informed her, clearly parroting what he'd been told about her.

Raven blinked.  Oh, shit.  Why hadn't Clarke warned her about that?  "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Don't worry about it," Murphy cut her off shortly.  "Okay, Ethan.  Why don't we throw away our bowls and get you cleaned up?" he asked as he reached down to pluck the boy's dish from his hands.

"But the fireworks!" Ethan reminded him urgently.

"We've got a few minutes left and I don't think anyone here would steal your spot," Murphy countered.

"I'll save your spot," Raven offered immediately, drawing a big grin from Ethan.

"Okay!  Let's  _ go _ ," the boy cried, pulling on his father's hand to hurry up the process.

Murphy gave her a short nod in gratitude for stepping in and Raven watched them both go, thoughts churning.

"There's something about a guy with kids, huh?"

Raven's head whipped around to find Harper regarding her with a slight smile on her face.

"What?" she sputtered.

"I think it's evolutionary nonsense in our genes, how watching someone be a good parent gets us all riled up," Harper continued as if she hadn't spoken at all.  The pediatrician was leaning against the railing, ignoring whatever Jasper and Monty were doing to one side of her.

"I think it's less the good parent part then the fact that he can be such an as-"  Raven stopped herself, because she knew there were other kids around.  "He's a grade-A jerk, but not with his kid.  I don't know many jerks who can stop being jerks around their kids."

"Maybe he's not a jerk then.  Just acts like one," Harper suggested with a shrug.  "Obviously, I work with kids all the time.  You'd be pretty amazed how many bullies are bullied at home or flat out abused really.  Sometimes they grow up and repeat the cycle with their own kids.  Sometimes they don't."

"Harper!  Settle this argument," Monty interrupted, touching her arm to get her attention.  "Better space scoundrel: Captain Malcolm Reynolds or Captain Han Solo."

With Harper distracted, Raven had a few moments to consider her words.  That theory, that maybe Murphy wasn't really a jerk might be true.  Or it could be he was a jerk to everyone except people in his family, or his adopted family, given the way he treated Bellamy and Miller.  

Raven continued to puzzle over this when Ethan slipped through the crowd, this time with Cole by his side.  

"Thanks!" he crowed up at Raven, beaming.

"You're welcome," she answered with a smile.  Without having quite understood that she'd made a decision, Raven pushed away from the column and headed towards the hallway.  She made her way to the top of the stairs, telling herself she was just going to grab a drink from the kitchen, but lingered there until the bathroom door opened and out stepped Murphy himself.

He paused, surprised to see her, but soon his face twisted into a sneer.  "What now?"

"Just wondering how an ass like you with a mouth like that could be so good at raising a kid," she fired back acidly.

"My mouth is good for lots of things.  Just try me," he retorted.

She couldn't help that her eyes dropped to his lips.  When she forced herself to meet his eyes again, she smirked to see his gaze wasn't on her face either.

"I'm going downstairs to the guest room," she heard herself say.  "In case anyone's looking for me."

Again, he seemed startled, before recognition dawned, but she didn't wait for his reply as she began the task of getting herself down the stairs.  With her heart hammering in her chest, she made her way to the guest room, leaving the door cracked as she headed inside and towards the door that led to the bathroom.  She made sure it was locked and by the time she turned around, Murphy had stepped into the guest room itself.

She watched as he carefully shut the door behind himself, flipping the lock.  He then took a step forward, which she mimicked , and soon they were crashing together, his mouth locked on her own.  In no time, his tongue was in her mouth, exploring almost gently while his hands gripped at her hips tightly.  

In that one instant, she was both wet and burning.  Moaning into his mouth, she rubbed her thighs together, trying to add friction to the roll of desire in her core.  But when he tried to back her towards the bed, she nearly stumbled, unable to move with her bad leg as quickly as he wanted.

Breaking the kiss, she panted, "Slower, can't walk so fast," only to hear him practically growl. His hands slid over the curve of her ass and gripped her upper thighs to pick her up, though shocked at the strength in his lean frame, Raven made a noise of delighted surprise as she curled her good leg around his waist, sweeping her tongue deeper into his mouth.

Murphy set her down on the bureau with a grunt, pulling his mouth from hers, only so that his hands could dip beneath her tank top and ruck it upwards.  Raven pushed him away, whipping off her top in a practiced motion before grabbing at his face to pull it closer again.

She couldn't believe how good he was with his tongue and she wanted more of it, immediately.  Every swipe, every touch made that fire in her belly just burn hotter and she wasn't sure she'd ever been this wet and desperate before.  Maybe it was the hating him part that made the sex so much better.  

See you later, dry spell.

When he pulled back to gasp for air, she demanded roughly, "Pants off. You've got a condom, right?"

He snorted, his eyes so dark with lust she could barely see the blue in them.  They dropped to her breasts, before he hastily pulled out his wallet and set it next to her and then fumbled with his belt on his shorts.  She took the time to unhook her brace, which fell to the carpeted floor with a muffled thud, so that she could push down her shorts, only for his hands to come back to her waist.

Their shorts were barely on the floor before he was on her again, kissing her hotly, then making his way down her throat, sucking just hard enough to get her to whimper without putting enough pressure to leave a mark.  She smiled against his hair, since a move like that had to have come from practice and she wondered briefly how many women he'd hooked up with who didn't want him to leave evidence.

And he knew what to do with his hands too, as they eased up her sides, only for the heels of each hand to push at the bottom of her sports bra, so that it bunched up over her breasts.  This was a new sensation, of the tight grip of the elastic encircling just under her shoulders while her breasts were unbound.  She shivered in response, wallowing in the feeling of his shirt brushing by her nipples as he demanded another kiss from her.  

She swallowed his own groan of pleasure as his right hand came up to tease her breast, massaging the rounded mass roughly before tweaking the over-sensitive skin by her nipple.  Her own arms came around his body, digging underneath his shirt so that her fingers could grab at his hot skin. They danced over a raised scar to one side of his back and she wondered briefly  what it was from, but the thought soon left her mind as her hands slid into his boxers and around the curve of his ass before moving up again and settling in the small of his back.

Soon, Murphy began to work his way lower, pressing wet kisses to the top of her left breast.  His tongue darted out to lave at her nipple and she groaned at the feel as he sucked it into his mouth.  She felt her core tighten in time to the movement of his mouth, but gasped when he actually bit down gently.

He smiled against her skin, and she could practically feel his smirk against her, then switched to her other breast as her fingers combed through his hair.  The fine hairs were surprisingly soft and smooth, but when he bit her other breast, she scratched at his scalp in retaliation. 

Finally, he began to move lower, but Raven wrapped her hands around his biceps to stop him. "Next time," she gasped, urging him up.

He chuckled and she knew exactly what he was thinking.   _ What are the chances of there being a next time? _

"Oh come on, don't you want to fuck me?" Raven questioned, one of her hands diving into his boxers to wrap slowly around his length.  Warm and hard, she was pleasantly surprised to learn he seemed a bit wider than the usual and, when he pushed down the material so his cock would spring free, she confirmed it.

She couldn't help the smile on her face, the tip of her tongue sticking out of the corner.  Flushed, already beaded, Murphy's cock seemed more than ready for her and when she looked up again, he watched her hand work him hungrily.

Groping with her other hand at his wallet, she managed to pull out a wrapped condom.  Leaving her to roll the latex onto his cock, his hands smoothed over the skin of her thighs until his hands stopped near her hips to open her legs wider with insistent pressure.  One of his hands then slid over her cotton panties, fingers ghosting over her mons before pushing aside the materiel to slip two of his fingers into her cleft just as she got the condom onto him.

In the distance, they heard the first shriek and explosion of the fireworks display.

Raven shifted under his touch, breathing erratically as he deftly trailed both fingers the full length of her slit, always just missing her clit at the top until she jerked.  Finally, he rubbed at her, softly on the first pass, gradually increasing the pressure with each repetition, even as she pressed into his touch.

She could feel her core growing ever tighter, a feeling made even stronger as he began to focus on her clit with hard, tight circles. Pumping her hips underneath him, she could feel herself rushing towards the precipice and she threw her head back as she moaned.   She seemed almost on the verge, already, when he abruptly stopped, pulling back his hand just so he could push her panties to one side and plunge into her in a single thrust.

The firework continued outside, the explosions coming more frequently and practically making the house shake, due to their proximity.

She almost yelped at the suddenness of the stretch, clenching down on him.  But she wrapped her good leg around his waist once more, leaning forward to bite at his shoulder and murmured, "Go on and fuck me."

"Fuck," he agreed, voice strained, and he set a hard, fast rhythm that made her moan, reveling in the feel of being penetrated so deeply.   On the fourth or fifth stroke, he began to work her clit again, both with a circling, hard pressure and a bit of a vibration, until she couldn't seem to catch her breath.  Her whole world was reduced to his hand gripping her hip tightly, his fingers winding her up, his cock sliding into her with enough force that her breasts bounced with every pass.  She leaned back, to get him to hit her at the angle, just right, then cried out loudly when he finally hit it.

When she managed to open her eyes to look at him, he was staring at her breasts, mouth open and panting with the exertion.  Her own gaze trailed down to where they were joined, where his fingers continued to push her past what she thought she needed to come, where his cock continued to pound into her wetly, and briefly, recklessly, she wished he was fucking her bare.  

But even that thought fled, as exquisite pressure, from his full cock, from his fingers pressing down on her, threatened to overwhelm her.  Everything seemed to come down to this moment, being filled by this man, and she gasped when her vision began to blur.  She closed her eyes tightly when her walls finally rippled and she began to contract around him.  As the fireworks continued outside, the booms echoing in the distance, she could feel as he seemed to swell inside of her, until he thrust once more, deeply, spending himself even as his hips continued to jerk involuntarily.

God, his moan of release was hot as hell.

Raven pulled herself somewhat upright, still trying to catch her breath, and Murphy's head dipped to rest on her shoulder.  She smiled, enjoying the feel of him still inside of her.  He was wider than Wick, a little longer than Finn, and he felt fucking great. But, mindful of the fact that people might begin to wonder where they might be, she smacked his butt lightly.

"Mmm, nice, but we got to get going," she told him a bit breathlessly.  

He grunted in response, glancing up at her through his hair, but taking a step back and pulling out of her.  "How long were you thinking about that?" he wondered, even as he peeled off the condom expertly.  "Never been with someone as wet as that so fast," he snarked.

"Bit of a dry spell," she admitted.  "Practically anyone could get me that wet that fast," she retorted with a grin of her own. 

He snorted.  "Right," he told her, pulling on his boxers and shorts.  Before she could even ask, he grabbed her clothes which had fallen on the floor, even her brace, and put them next to her on the bureau, so she could easily reach them.

"Thanks," she said, surprised, but soon was preoccupied in getting dressed herself.  Naturally, he finished first, pulling his wallet from the bureau and stuffing it back into a pocket.  He ran his fingers through his hair and sucked in a breath.  

"You okay?" he asked roughly, as if hesitant to show that he gave a damn.

She nodded quickly as she pulled down her bra, then wiggled into her shorts, lifting her hips briefly.  "You better get back," she told him, grabbing at her tank top and quickly scrambling back into it.  "Ethan's going to notice you're gone sooner rather than later."

Not that the fireworks had ended yet.  Based on the rate of booms they could hear, the town was probably only halfway through the show.

Murphy seemed about to say something, but just shook his head.  "Right."  He headed for the door, opening it quickly and then pausing in the threshold.  "Thanks," he told her.

She grinned back at him.  "Likewise.  That was a good fuck."

He smirked, saluting her flippantly with two fingers and slipped out, shutting the door behind him.

When she was alone again, Raven took her time pulling on her brace and fussed about in tightening some of the fastenings before gingerly hopping down from the bureau.  She straightened her clothing, raked her fingers through her hair to make it look presentable again and then tugged on her necklace so that the charm hung in front once more.  At some point, he'd pushed it over her shoulder without her noticing.  Looking in the mirror critically, she nodded, thinking that she didn't look recently fucked.

But she certainly  _ felt _ freshly fucked.  She smiled at her reflection, smug.  One hell of a orgasm, delivered by someone else, seemed to have been just what she needed.  

Ready to face the world again, she slipped out of the guest room but didn't bother to go upstairs.  Instead, she grabbed one of the leftover sodas, made her way to the front porch, there to watch the fireworks in peace while everyone else watched above her.  She didn't want to have to make conversation while she relaxed in a post-coital haze.

Fortunately, the Arkadia fireworks display was always particularly long on the Fourth, running in total for nearly half an hour.  She got a good ten minutes of peace and then a few more, as people took their time coming downstairs.

Murphy and Ethan were among the first to leave, despite Ethan's protestations.  

"But, Daddy," he began in a whine.

"You've got day camp tomorrow and I have work.  I can't believe you're not tired, after all the running around you did," Murphy told him, his voice carrying out to Raven on the porch before she caught sight of the pair leaving through the front door.

Just like her, he didn't appear to have been screwing around recently, but when he caught her eye, he gave her the smirk that she'd worn not that long ago.  She just snorted, but pushed a smile onto her face when Ethan noticed her there.

"Raven!"

"Hey, kiddo.  Heading home?" she wondered, pushing up to her feet again.  "I know I am."

Ethan sighed and nodded.  "Yeah."

"And you get to go to camp tomorrow?  Sounds great to me," she noted.

"I guess," he acknowledged.  "We do experiments there," he told her, some of the excitement coming back into his voice.

"Sounds awesome."

"So let's get home so tomorrow can get here faster," Murphy added, pulling Ethan along.  He gave Raven a nod for her help, but otherwise ignored her as they walked past her.

"That's not how that works," Ethan complained.  "Just 'cause you're asleep, nothing is happening  _ faster _ ."

"Why don't you explain it to me on the drive home?" Murphy suggested as he opened the door to an older Honda sedan so that his son could climb inside.

"Okay," came the response, but anything else he said was muted by the sound of the door closing behind him. 

Murphy didn't waste any time getting into the car himself and soon, his car pulled out the driveway.  Raven watched him go, then turned her attention to the other guests streaming out of the house.  Eventually, Clarke made her way to the porch and Raven was able to make her goodbyes to the host directly.

"Thanks for inviting me," Raven told her.  "I had fun."  Way more fun than Clarke probably suspected, but well, she didn't need to know that.

"Yeah, it went well," she agreed, pleased.  "And the fireworks were great, as always."

They chatted amiably for a moment, but Raven soon made her goodbyes, getting another hug from Cole and telling him that no, she couldn't just stay over.

"Maybe some other time, though."

"You promise?" Cole asked.

Seeing Clarke's nod, Raven gave him a wide grin.  "I promise."

Soon enough, she was in her car on her way home.  She definitely hadn't expected to have such a good time at Clarke's house, certainly not one that involved getting fucked on a bureau in the guest room by a guy she might otherwise not give the time of day.

But, it had been hot, just the right kind of rough, and boy, did she need it.

Not bad for a day off.

 

.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raven's apartment is modeled on this [design](http://cdn.home-designing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Uniquely-Shaped-1-Bedroom-Apartment.jpg). The Griffin home is [here](http://www.familyhomeplans.com/plan_details.cfm?PlanNumber=61376).
> 
> Comments, kudos, critiques, etc, are extremely welcome. I'm also available for yelling at on [Tumblr](https://callmehux.tumblr.com/).


	2. Day 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a new status quo between Raven and Murphy...until something disturbs it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my betas, iamblacklocked and @bfl1201.

**August 8, 2016**

  
  


"Okay, kiddo, time to get up."  Murphy stuck his head into Ethan's room at about 6:30 am, after he had already finished in the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist.  The arrangement gave his son another fifteen minutes or so to sleep and meant they wouldn't be stepping all over each other in the narrow bathroom.

Ethan snuffled and buried his head under his blue and grey comforter, forcing Murphy to walk into the room and pull the cover back, nearly tripping along the way on a superhero playset that had been knocked over at some point.  While his son wasn't exactly the messiest kid in the world, he wasn't exactly neat either, and his room was often littered with whatever toy or book he'd been using in the spot he'd been using it.  That was part of the reason why he'd given him the larger room in the apartment; Ethan had way more stuff than Murphy permitted for himself and he needed the bigger room to keep it all contained.

He pulled back the cover, and while his son gave a whiny yelp,  he continued.  "Come on, time to get moving.  You're going swimming today, remember?  You've got to get up and dressed, and then pack your bag, and we have to get going."

It wasn't ideal, really, but Murphy had to be in the office by 8 am if he wanted to leave at 5 pm everyday.  That meant getting Ethan up earlier so he could be dropped off at the Griffins' for Bellamy to watch.  And that was just torture for his kid, who was an excellent sleeper;  Ethan had always slept through the night as a baby, never put up a fuss going down for a nap (he'd remind  _ you _ about his nap time) and even didn't mind his bedtime.

But it made mornings very hard.

As Ethan started to scoot towards the edge of the bed very slowly, his eyes still closed, Murphy just smiled.  "Up up," he repeated, gently taking his son's arm and pulling him into a sitting position, at least.  "Once you get moving, you'll feel better about being up."  He said this at least three times a week.

He'd also learned that he couldn't leave Ethan alone until he watched him go into the bathroom.  Anything less and the boy would just burrow back into bed.

Eventually, Ethan oozed from his bed and, with eyes still half-closed, wandered sleepily into the bathroom.  Based on the unfortunate incident in which the boy had fallen back asleep on the toilet one morning, Murphy made sure to keep an eye on him until he was actually brushing his teeth.

Once assured that Ethan was, in fact, actually getting ready for the day, Murphy quickly got dressed himself.  Then he put together Ethan's bag, while his son put on a pair of blue shorts and a Ninja Turtles t-shirt at a snail's pace.  He fished out Ethan's only swim trunks, purchased just a month ago when they figured out he didn't fit into his last pair, stuffing them into the backpack, only to turn and find Ethan staring at him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't swim good," Ethan told him, looking pensive, in his 'I-don't-want-to-do-something-but-I-want-you-to-make-the-decision' voice.

"You swim okay and you're going to be with Bellamy and another adult, along with Charlie.  You'll be fine."  Unfortunately, his son had inherited Murphy's own lack of athletic ability, though even Miller had pointed out that he was fairly graceful.  Ethan also lacked confidence when it came to anything remotely approaching physical activity.

But he just looked nervous, so Murphy crouched down next to him.  "You know that if you don't want to go into the pool, you don't have to.  But if you do go in, which I know you're going to want to, you're going to be safe.  I promise."

Ethan finally nodded and sighed.  "Okay."  He didn't look quite convinced, but he was willing to believe what his dad said.

"Okay," Murphy agreed as he stood up.  "Let's get some breakfast together for you."

"You too!" Ethan responded, running out of his room, a sure sign that he had a particular food in mind.  "Let's have Reese's cereal!"

"That's a weekend breakfast," he denied, moving after the boy and shaking his head.  He tried that at least three times a week too.

What followed was a whirlwind, as he made Ethan and himself a bowl of oatmeal with peaches, only for the kid to take a single bite and declare, "Mm, this is delicious Daddy, but I don't want anymore."

It was Ethan's go-to excuse for not eating.

"At least three more bites," Murphy told him sternly before eating a spoonful of his own oatmeal.  He eyed the boy meaningfully, until Ethan reluctantly picked up his spoon again and slowly, frowningly, ate another spoonful.

Murphy took a moment to glance at his phone, which unlocked to the texts he'd exchanged with Bellamy the night before.

 

 **Blake:** _How do you break up with someone?_

 

_ Don't know.  Just have sex with them, no relationships. _

 

 **Blake:** _You really are an asshole, aren't you?_

 

_ Have you met me? _

 

He smirked, unable to understand what exactly made Bellamy ask him of all people that question.  Murphy hadn't even had what you could call a relationship with Anya, Ethan's mother, much less any of the women he'd slept with since.  They were usually mothers who thought he seemed like a good time or, occasionally, married women who wanted to stick it to their husbands by fucking a guy from a different income bracket.  No one was really looking at long-term when it came to Murphy, which he liked just fine.  He didn't need anyone pulling focus from his son.

His phone buzzed in his hand with an incoming message and he grinned when he read it.  This was case-in-point.

 

**Raven:** _ Lunch? _

 

Murphy typed out a quick affirmative, then grinned again.  Somehow or another, he'd managed to become fuck buddies with a smoking hot, brilliant engineer, a woman who had exactly the same amount of interest he had in a long-term thing: zero.  She knew about Ethan, had met him and liked him, but had no interest in becoming a parental figure herself.  She didn't try to talk about feelings or finagle "real dates" out of him.  She just wanted sex.  

And the sex was, excuse the pun, fucking phenomenal.  She fit like a goddamned glove around his cock, she was always wet as hell, her fingers were nimble and she wasn't shy about deep-throating a guy.

It wasn't exactly how he imagined spending time with her at first, since their first meeting had been disaster.  When Raven had stumbled into him at the Griffins’ barbeque, he was fresh off being called into the office on his day off and groped by his boss Ontari, who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. So yeah, he hadn't reacted well to being unexpectedly touched, even if was just his arm.

But the Latina had fired back at him with the same curses he'd hurled at her instead of shrinking away from his rudeness and then just avoiding him the rest of the day like most folks would have.  She actually made him spill some of his beer on himself in retaliation and from there, it was on.

And he had been winning, since she'd been so flabbergasted by the fact that Ethan was his son.  He understood too.  Murphy worked hard to make sure the shit he went through never touched his son, so Ethan was a happy, engaging kid whom everyone liked.  Not like his old man.  

Then she went and changed the game on him, inviting him to fuck her in the Griffins' guest room while everyone else gawked at fireworks.  Which, hell yes, he did.  She was gorgeous, smart, sexually kind of aggressive.  Just his type.  It was a hell of a fuck too, giving him a chance to let off some steam.  He hadn't expected it to be so good though or to be thinking about it for days afterward.

Even when Bellamy and Clarke had found out about his issue at work and Clarke - the woman who only knew him as Bellamy's friend and Ethan's dad - told him that she would help him find a new job, he'd still spent some time that night wondering about Raven.  Clarke had offered him and Ethan a place to stay if he didn't find a new position by the end of the summer so he could quit his job at Azgeda and Associates while still being sure that Ethan could stay in the school district.And one ofhis first thoughts had been that he'd be able to run into Raven more that way.

The school district - rich and progressive - had the resources that a super-smart kid like Ethan needed.   He'd just turned six a few months ago, but he'd already finished first grade.  The teacher there had been giving him second grade work by the end of the school year to keep him interested and he'd already been tested to see if he should start the third grade this coming year.  They were just waiting for the results.   It was special attention like this that made Murphy determined to keep his kid in the district, and, for awhile, made him determined to stay at his horrible job since others in the area didn't pay enough to keep them in their small but expensive apartment.

In the end, with Bellamy and Clarke's help, Murphy got to quit his job, spend a few days with Ethan, and got a new job with Clarke's family friend, Thelonius Jaha, of the Law Offices of Thelonius Jaha, P.C.  It didn't pay as much, which meant that Ethan's day camp had been jettisoned for being watched by Bellamy during the day (who had also agreed to provide after school care when the school year started.)  But it was a better position.

And it put him within ten minutes of Raven's apartment, a fact that became key when he ran into Raven again at the Griffins' while picking up Ethan.  While his son was in the bathroom, getting the paint he'd spilled on himself hastily scrubbed out of his hair by an apologetic Bellamy, Murphy and Raven had traded barbs downstairs, then ended up fucking again in the guest bathroom.  Well, first he ate her out, then took her from behind while they'd locked eyes in the bathroom's mirror.  He'd swallowed her moans with his mouth and hid his own groan of release by biting her shoulder later.  She hadn't been pleased at the mark he'd assured her would fade in just an hour, yelling at him when they got back into the hallway when Clarke found them and told them to shut the hell up.

Her apology text the next day at her rudeness (rich people!) to both of them had given Raven and Murphy each other's numbers, but it was Raven who had made the first move.  In what he now thought of as typical Raven fashion, she'd simply asked,  _ "Wanna get together and fuck again?" _

Not being an idiot, he'd said, " _ Hell yes _ ."

Murphy finished up his oatmeal and, noting that Ethan had begrudgingly eaten about half of his own bowl, waved his son away from the table.  "Okay, get your bag, we're leaving in two minutes," he told him.

By the time they were actually in the car, Ethan had woken up enough to tell Murphy about  _ The Hobbit _ , a book Bellamy had read to him at the Griffins' house.  

"You didn't think any of it was scary?" Murphy questioned, glancing in the rearview mirror at the boy.

"No!  I liked it!  I liked the dragon, Smaug, especially!" Ethan denied.

"Well, maybe we can watch the movies then," he offered, watching Ethan's eyes go round.

"They made movies?" Ethan practically bounced in his seat.

"Yeah.  And we can read the sequels too,  _ The Lord of the Rings _ ," he continued.  "And then watch those movies."  They were a little violent, but, well, the world was a lot worse than the shit that happened in the Tolkien books.

They spent the rest of the car ride talking about it, with Ethan only getting quiet just as they pulled up to the Griffins' ridiculous mansion as he got himself ready to deal with people, not just Murphy, Bellamy, Miller or Bryan.  He'd noticed Ethan's tendency to steel himself before going into places with other people when he was only three, which one of the school counselors had said suggested he had "high empathy."  

Who'd have thought a kid that was half-him and half-Anya would have "high empathy?"

"World's a funny place," he murmured to himself as he shut off the car.  He helped Ethan out, grabbing the bag the boy had already forgotten and followed him up to the front door.

Bellamy opened it soon enough, grinning at Ethan as he slipped past him into the entryway.  "Everyone's at the table enjoying some chocolate chip pancakes.  Why don't you join them?" 

Ethan didn't need any other invitation and took off for the kitchen without even saying goodbye.

Murphy just raised an eyebrow, holding out Ethan's backpack for Bellamy to take.  "I don't get a pancake?" he asked in mock surprise.

"You didn't answer my question," Bellamy sniffed, which made Murphy roll his eyes.

For some reason, despite being obviously half-in love with his "boss," Clarke, Bellamy had started dating Gina, a bartender at their regular guys' night hangout, The Still.  Good beers, good food, decent prices, not too many kids just trying to get drunk or anything.  Gina was a good-looking woman, sure, but anyone who saw Bellamy and Clarke together knew they would be a thing sooner rather than later.  They were both bossy, arrogant know-it-alls and Murphy was pretty sure their foreplay would either be an argument or them combining forces, the way they had when he'd had an issue, but clearly, they each had a major thing for each other.

But dating one girl while thinking of another was a shitty thing to do, which Bellamy apparently finally admitted to himself.  After a fight with their friend Miller, of course, Murphy noted.  Sometimes Bellamy needed to be forced to see things the way they really were.

"What, about breaking up?" Murphy smirked, still not quite sure why he had to explain this about himself to Bellamy of all people.  The man knew him.   "I don't do that.  I'm upfront with them that I'm not looking for serious, just fun.  The fun fades, we go our separate ways."

But he refused to believe him, shaking his head.   "You're telling me you give them the brush off before you sleep with them?"

He hadn't thought of it that way, but Murphy nodded.  "Yeah, I guess I do." He basically prided himself on being an asshole, but he didn't want to trick someone into sleeping with him.  He was never going to be the guy in a real relationship, a long-term thing that could lead to something permanent and he wanted to be sure the women he slept with knew that before they had their fun.

"And they still sleep with you?"

Boy, did they.  "I'm getting laid today during my lunch break, so yeah, they still sleep with me."  Murphy thought about his upcoming "date" with Raven, already wondering if he could convince her to try doggy-style with him.  He knew it might be an issue, with her leg and all, but he had to figure out it if was on the table at all.

Or, they could do it on the table, if she moved her computers.

"Amazing," Bellamy interrupted his lascivious thoughts.   "Okay, I'll see you this evening," he said, waving Murphy away with a roll of his eyes.

Of course, there was the important point to make about this whole business. "Listen, Blake, don't fuck up this break-up with the bartender.  I like The Still and I don't want to have to relocate guy's night."

Priorities, man.

"I'll try not to inconvenience your life too much," Bellamy retorted.

Murphy grinned, driving himself right through the opening he'd been given.  "It's the least you can do after watching my son all the time."  But he gave his friend a wave and headed back towards his car.

The faster he got to work, the faster his morning would go, and then he'd be at Raven's for his favorite kind of "lunch."

 

* * *

 

Raven legitimately got more work done when she worked from home than when she was in the offices.  Convincing Sinclair of that fact had been relatively easy since, when she was in the office, people had a habit of dropping by her lab, bothering her and distracting her from her own projects, including Sinclair himself.  So, he agreed that she could mostly work from home, though usually she had to be in the office for at least two days a week, picking up supplies, attending some meetings she couldn't miss, and the other, usual garbage of being an employee.

But most days, she didn't waste time commuting.  The table was now her permanent desk, with two screens for her main computer - Dallas - as well as two separate laptops, Orlando and Phoenix.  Phoenix was the computer that went with her back and forth to work, a job previously held by Orlando who now served as more of a back-up.  The table was also big enough to hold whatever parts she needed when she was working on a practical model, with overflow pieces scattered on the coffee table.  

After meeting - and fucking - Murphy, and then doing it all over again the next time they ran into each other at the Griffins, Raven found another benefit to working from home: lunchtime visits from the paralegal, whose offices were only about ten minutes away.

Not that they did much eating.  Well, of anything but each other.  Murphy was more than skilled with his mouth and he often got her off twice in the forty minutes he could spend in her place.  Now, two or three times a week, depending on how busy they were at work, they would screw each other over his lunch hour.

It was the perfect non-relationship.  Raven got sex regularly with a guy she knew wasn't a complete waste of a human being, but without the danger of their arrangement getting complicated by feelings, and vice versa.  They were just two consenting adults, fucking each other and going on their merry way.

Plus, it made Mondays actually rather nice.

Not that she hadn't learned a few personal things about Murphy in the few weeks they had been hooking up.  He'd recently started a new job.  He scrambled out of his clothes first thing to prevent them from staining or ripping during their fun, because he was practical.  His body had a number of scars, supposedly from when he'd served overseas - the one on his back she'd felt the first time, one on his knee, a few on his stomach and side.  He also basically had a kink where he had to feel her come, either around his cock or with his fingers.  That last was a new one for her, but since it resulted in usually two orgasms minimum during his visits, she certainly had no complaints.  

And just because they were sleeping together on the regular, didn't mean they'd given up needling each other.  Murphy gave as good as he got and it was nice to have an opponent on something closer to her intellectual footing.  Finn was both incapable of being teased and not bright enough to retort without wounding.  Wick always seemed to want to turn the back and forth sentimental.   Murphy, on the other hand, seemed made of snark and in no hurry to let down whatever barrier he kept up, which was fine by Raven.  

She glanced at the time on her laptop and smiled.  The devil himself should be there in just a few minutes.  She'd put him on her approved guests list down at the concierge desk so he wouldn't need to be buzzed up and now showed up almost always at 12:11 p.m.  Unlike her, he tended to be punctual, but then, he had been a soldier and now had a kid that she knew he never wanted to keep waiting.  He had a lot more practice being on time.

She saved the work she'd done that morning, always paranoid about losing a few hours of notes.  There was nothing more frustrating than trying to recreate what she'd already done, even if she did get laid as a result. Raven slid from her seat to look over the practical model she'd made for the design at the other end of the table.  After a moment, she fished out a pen and wrote a little note to herself about an idea that had just occurred to her.

She became so engrossed so quickly that she almost jumped in her seat when her phone began to buzz on the table.  A glance at the screen told her that she didn't recognize the number but, after a moment's hesitation, she answered it with a cautious-sounding, "Hello?"

There were two reasons why she never changed her phone number.  The first was Finn.  Despite what he had done to her with Clarke, how he'd revealed his true nature to her, he and his family were the reasons why she was alive and thriving today.  They'd kept her fed and occasionally even clothed when her mother neglected to provide her with even the basics of living.

"Baby!  Baby, baby, you have to help me out!" wailed the woman who replied.

This was the second reason: her mother.  Not so much so that she could be the pocketbook her mother wanted her to be, but so that she could be reached if her mother was in the hospital or, you know, died.

Raven took a deep breath.  "Yeah?"   She tried to sound as noncommittal as possible.

"These stupid fucking cops arrested me for  _ nothing _ , baby, I need some money so you gotta come and bail me out and-"

"Mom, I don't live in the city anymore.  I don't even live in the same state," Raven interrupted, closing her eyes briefly to try to prevent herself from yelling at the woman.  She'd learned long since that if she didn't stay calm, every conversation was a thousand times worse.

"You gotta  _ come _ or send me money, because I can't be here, baby, I can't  _ be here _ !" her mother practically shrieked.  Here meant jail, where she couldn't drink.  "I get so sick, so so sick…"

The now-familiar two-rap knock sounded on her door and Raven sighed as she turned to hobble over to let Murphy into the apartment.  With every step, the shame of having someone else have to hear and possible deal with the ravings of her alcoholic mother began to weigh on her, until she couldn't quite look Murphy in the eye as she opened the door to wave him inside.

"No, I don't.  I told you I'm not giving you money," she informed her mother coolly.  At least she managed to say that.

The trademark Murphy Smirk he'd been wearing when she first glanced at him immediately slipped at hearing her words.  His brow furrowed, but he walked inside and shut the door behind him while she wandered somewhat away, listening to her mother insist, no,  _ demand _ that Raven pony up her bail and some other money because now was a really hard time for her.

Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, Raven just shook her head and replied in a very clear, very succinct, "No."

Now came the yelling.  

After about ten seconds, Raven pulled the phone away from her face, so that her mother wasn't screaming directly in her ear.  She turned around, to find herself being regarded by Murphy, a shuttered expression on his face.

"...am your mother! I gave birth to you! You wouldn't be here except for me!  After everything  _ I did for you _ -"

That was Raven's cue.  "Yes," she cut her mother's rant off.  "Everything you did for me, using all of the welfare checks to buy yourself booze and go out with your friends, locking me in my room and telling me to shut up when I told you I was hungry.  For everything you did for me, that's why I'm not giving you money now."  She hung up then, already too drained to continue listening to her mother's bullshit.

In less than five minutes, she'd gone from feeling good and looking forward to "lunch" to feeling tired, achy, with her bad leg feeling like she was lugging around a ton of bricks and in no mood for company.  She felt like crawling into bed, sure, but not for sex.

"Look," she began wearily.  "I don't think I want to fuck around right now, so-"

"Got anything to eat here?" Murphy interrupted her, already turning away and walking towards her fridge.  He opened it like he had a right to, inspecting the contents with a half-frown.

Raven huffed in annoyance, but reluctantly figured that if he'd gotten over to her place, wasting some of his lunch hour, she maybe could be not a dick about at least feeding him.  "I got some stuff," she grudgingly admitted.

He pulled out some bread, cold cuts and cheese, along with butter, setting all of this out on the counter by the stove.  "Where's your pan?" he wondered.

Frowning, she pointed him in the right direction.  "What do you need it for?" she wondered as he opened a few drawers, looking for a butter knife.

"Gonna make some melts for lunch.  You eat sandwiches, right?" he asked sarcastically, already putting the pan on the stove.  Almost immediately, though, he stepped back, hastily scrambling out of his button-down shirt and draping it on a chair.  At her confused look, he explained, "Don't want to get anything on it."

Raven snorted as she pulled herself onto one of the barstool chairs by the counter.  "I know that.  I'm wondering why you're making sandwiches?"

"Yeah, I know we don't eat much on these lunch breaks - besides each other - but I figured for once we could actually have lunch," Murphy explained with a shrug.

Stunned to hear her earlier thoughts echoed in his words, Raven forgot about her mother's latest outrage and grinned.  "Okay," she allowed.

The smile he gave her in reply was almost sweet and, for a moment, he looked very much like his son.  But then he ducked his head and turned back to what he was doing, the moment over.

Before she knew it, Murphy presented her with a turkey and cheese melt, with a side of potato chips he'd scrounged from the cabinet and a can of Coke from the fridge.  He set himself up with a nearly identical plate and took a seat beside her at the kitchen island.

They ate in silence for a moment, but Murphy finally broke in when her mouth was full of a decidedly delicious sandwich.

"I didn't realize my mom was an alcoholic 'til after my dad died," he revealed suddenly.  His gaze was fixed on the cabinets across from where they sat, but she didn't miss the false-casual tone of his voice.  "He covered for her so much, I just thought she got a lot of headaches.  But then he died, it was my fault, and it all fell to shit.  No one bringing home a paycheck anymore and the Social Security check wasn't all that.  She couldn't send me to the liquor store to buy her booze for her either, so that meant she had to do it herself and meant I was completely useless.  And I was always needing to be fed, or get new shoes, shit like that, and that pissed her off.  Here I was, telling her I wanted stuff when I was the reason my dad wasn't around to work and bring in money.  My mom wasn't sober a day of her life, I don't think, from the day he died to the day she died.  So I get it. "

Raven could tell he wasn't trying to compare their sad stories, just reassuring her he'd probably heard diatribes like her mother's before.  But she had a morbid curiosity and, suddenly, she wondered if maybe all those scars on his body weren't just from when he'd been deployed with the Army.

"Why'd she blame you for your dad?"

He actually chuckled, then took a swing of his soda.  "I was the asshole who got sick and needed antibiotics, which is why my dad was walking to the pharmacy where a police car could hit him because they were chasing some guy who'd carjacked this lady," he related.  "So, you know, my fault.

"My mom was crazy angry with me.  Got a lot of 'worthless', and 'useless', and 'piece of shit.'  Got plates thrown at me and got knocked down the stairs and well, only took me about a month to just run whenever she was awake.  Only another month after that 'til I set fire to the cop's house, the one who hit and killed my dad."  He smiled, eyes filled with a dark humor.  

Raven nodded, understanding the impulse to laugh because what the fuck would crying do for you?  "I'm alive," she began, figuring that he deserved probably a little more of her own story.  "Because of a neighbor kid, and then his parents, who kept me fed, bought me clothes sometimes.  When I got into school, it was easier, to get the forms to get school breakfast and lunch, to take clothes from the lost and found, whatever.  It's why I still talk to that guy, this guy."  She tapped the counter, then fingered the bird charm on her necklace, as she often did when she thought of him.  "He might have cheated on me in college, but I wouldn't have made it past five years-old if it weren't for him, so he'll always be my friend."

Murphy nodded, then pulled his mouth into a half-smile.  "We haven't really fucked on many things in this place, if that was the plan to get back at him."

She laughed lowly in response and nodded.  "Kind of, but with a bed that comfortable, what's the point of fucking on the other places?"

He grinned maliciously.  "You got to stick to your plans for revenge.  Who else is going to take revenge for you?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure Clarke will sleep with me way before she even thinks about Finn again, so there's that revenge," Raven answered, grinning at his shocked look.  "Oh yeah, that's how I met her.  She was fucking him, because he said he was single.  Then I showed up to tour their college for the graduate program and oops." 

He smirked.  "If you ever sleep with her, I don't suppose you'd ever tell me about it, would you?"

"What, you're not inviting yourself to the party?"  She didn't know many guys who wouldn't at least joke about wanting to be the meat in a sandwich that consisted of her and Clarke.

He laughed, shaking his head.  "I wouldn't know what to do with myself, two hot girls getting it on in front of me.  Plus, pretty sure Bellamy would kill me."

"I know, right?" Raven agreed, waving a hand.  At least she wasn't the only one who could see Clarke was supposed to be with Bellamy.

They chatted about the state of Clarke and Bellamy's so-called non-relationship for a moment and gradually, Raven relaxed enough to interject with a question about his childhood.

"You said you set a cop's house on fire?  Did it burn down?  Did you get in trouble for that?" Raven wondered, idly fingering one of the leftover chips on her plate.

He had brought it up and she just had to know.

Murphy snorted, leaning back in his chair.  "Did I...yes, fuck, I got in trouble for that.  I got arrested, real fast, put into juvie. His house got a bit of a burn mark up the one side, nothing major because eleven year-olds who don't run in gangs or with other criminals aren't really good arsonists."  He smiled thinly.  "My mom actually showed up at one of the hearings, ranting about how I was a horrible kid, telling the judge that I need to be locked up, all this crap.  I think my court-appointed attorney took one look at her and probably figured that I was better off being in prison.  And you know, he was right.  I took a couple of beatings in juvie, but nothing like what I got a home.  Plus food, you know?"

"How long were you in for?"  On one hand, Raven couldn't believe she was so blase about having a guy who casually admitted setting a police officer's house on fire.  But on the other hand, she'd been that scared, hungry kid with a crazy alcoholic mother.  If it hadn't been for the Collinses, she might have done a lot worse than Murphy.  And he'd just been seeking revenge on the person he felt had ruined his life, which, you know, was not good, but he was a confused and frightened eleven year-old apparently.  It made sense.

Plus, anyone could see that wasn't who he was now.  He held down a steady job, had been in the military without an issue, and oh yeah, was a hell of a dad himself to one of the smartest kids she'd ever met.  

Yeah, she wasn't worried about it.

"Just a couple of years.  Oh, I was sentenced to be in 'til I was eighteen, that's what arson and attempted murder, since there was a person in the house, will get you, but then I got moved to this pilot juvenile rehabilitation program.  Basically it was this fucking workhouse with a strict-as-hell guy.  Wake up, chores, go to school, come home, chores, bed.  I fucking hated it, but again, probably better than anything else.  Got out as soon as I could, enlisted, since the program had a deal with the Army or whatever and I hadn't 'reoffended' since the fire."  He smirked.  "Well, that they knew about."

"When did your mom die?"  That was Raven's fear, if she changed her number.  That she'd have no way of hearing when her mother kicked the bucket, since she wasn't likely to be listed in the obituaries. 

"I think when I was sixteen.  Not exactly sure.  Got word well after she was dead.  She drank so much so fast, she actually had organ failure."  He shook his head.  "Fucking waste of a human being.  Don't know why my dad put up with her, why he covered for her."

Having more than briefly considered taking Finn back after the incident, Raven glumly noted, "Sometimes what we think is love short-circuits our brains."

"Awful," Murphy sneered at the very thought of being in love apparently, pushing away his own, now-empty plate.  "You okay with fucking a criminal?"  He eyed her warily and she wondered if it had been a problem for some other woman, once.

Raven actually grinned as she propped up her head on her hand and leaned on the counter.  "You were convicted of arson, really?"

"Yep, just said," Murphy confirmed, crossing his arms in front of him.  "Well, my juvie record is sealed and expunged, but yeah."

"Awesome.  Always wanted to fuck a criminal.  Just not like, a serious criminal."  

"Well, there's one for your bucket list," he replied, mouth quirking in amusement.  "Glad I could help with that."

"One?  Fucked you lots of times," she reminded him, getting him to smile for real again.  "Sorry, by the way, of not being in the mood right now.   I'll blow you when we get together next.  Well, if I feel like it at the time."

That made him laugh.  "That's what I like about you.  No bullshit with you."

"Likewise," she agreed before sitting back herself.  "Shame though.  I was going to get you to agree to get tested, so we could ditch the condoms."  Ever since that first time, she'd been obsessed with the notion.

But he shook his head adamantly.  "No way.  I mean, I'll get tested if you want, but the condoms stay."

"I have an IUD, not gonna get pregnant," she assured him.  "You've got one really nice Murphling there but no, I'm not volunteering to give you another."

"I am never relying on only one form of birth control again," he continued to deny her though.  "That's how I ended up with the first 'Murphling'."

"Oh?  Ethan wasn't planned?" Raven teased, always a little happy to hear about the boy.  He was just like Cole, an interesting, sweet little kid and this was a new story for her. "You weren't hoping for spawn?"

"Fuck no.  Not planned, not wanted-"  He paused, wincing at his choice of words and shaking his head.  "I didn't want kids, no.  Never was going to have kids.  I fucked around with this woman, a staff sergeant when were both laid up in the hospital…"  At her incredulous look, he just grinned.  "A lot of bathroom sex," he admitted smugly.  "Anyway, antibiotics and birth control pills don't mix for some reason.  Not that I knew that or that she even got pregnant, since she didn't tell me.  Hell, she tried to to deny it when I saw her when she was seven months along, like I couldn't fucking count or something."  He still sounded angry about this.  "Once he was going to be, then, yeah, hell yes, I wanted him.  But not before.  I'm not.."  He snorted.  "I didn't think I was father material."

"But you're a great dad," Raven concluded with a nod.  Which, if she was being totally honest, was a big reason they were currently fuck buddies.

"He's a great kid," he corrected, then snorted.  "I was basically alive only out of spite until Ethan came along," he quipped.

But it didn't ring like a joke to her.

"And, fuck all if I'll tell him this, Bellamy's a big reason he turned out so well.  I was so fucking out of my depth when his mom died when he was just a month old, and I didn't know what to do.  Bellamy helped me, lived with us for a while, actually." 

"That's not surprising.  He's like a kid magnet."  She tilted her head, thinking.  "Hey, did you know it's his birthday tomorrow?"

Murphy looked like she'd slapped him in the face.  "How do you know it's his birthday tomorrow?"

"Because I was over the Griffins' the other day and they were talking about it because they make a big ass deal about everyone's birthday."  Raven's birthday, apart from the years she was near Clarke, was never a big deal to anyone.  "You getting him something?"

"Hell, no, I'm not getting him a gift," Murphy responded, like she'd grown a second head.  "Why would I?"

Raven briefly considered that maybe, it was a girl thing, getting your friends presents on their birthdays when you were adults, but she couldn't help but go after him about this.  "You just finished telling me that the man helped you raise your son and I know he now watches him all the time.  I mean, literally, where is Ethan right now?  Least you could do is get him something for his birthday.  As a thank you."

He snorted.  "What would I even get him?"

"I don't know, he's your friend!  Bottle of wine always seems to work with adults, if nothing else!"  She couldn't believe it was so hard for him.

He scoffed, but looked at least a little thoughtful afterwards, so she hoped he'd listen to her.  

"You kind of look like Ethan right now," she added, a smile tugging on her lips.

He just shook his head after ducking it.  "That kid is the best thing to come out of my life," he said, a note of raw honesty in his voice.  "He gets his intensity from his mother, probably his smarts too, the rest I think, yeah, he's me," he admitted.

"I wouldn't sell yourself too short there.  It's not like you're an idiot," Raven mentioned before taking another sip of her drink.

"Says the genius," Murphy snorted derisively.  He'd accidentally almost tripped over a box that held her degrees and awards and hadn't missed the one that called her the valedictorian of both her high school and undergraduate classes.

"Okay, yeah, I am a genius."  She learned a long time ago to accept the labels that worked for her and reject the ones that didn't.  "Just means I know when I'm looking at an idiot and when I'm not."

"I'm pretty sure that's not 'just' what it means, but thanks," he answered dryly, lifting his can of soda to her in acknowledgement of the compliment.

She immediately felt a rush of arousal at the gesture, though she couldn't figure out the why of it.  She only barely understood why she wanted to bone Murphy in the first place, but a lot of it had to do with the kind of raw attraction she was feeling right now.

Maybe she was in the mood after all.

"You know, if you're still up for it, I could fool around some," Raven offered, shrugging a shoulder.

He raised an eyebrow.  "Yeah?"  He checked his phone a moment later, adding with a pained look, "I got to get going in a few minutes though.  I know I can be quick, but I don't know how good that'd be for you…"

Something occurred to her then, as she finally put together his kink with his words. "If I don't get off, you don't really get off, do you?"

He flushed, as if this was something to be embarrassed by, and huffed in annoyance.  "Kinda," he grudgingly admitted.  "It's fucking hot when a girl gets off, okay?  If she doesn't, might as well just be pulling my own pork, whatever."

"That's…"  Raven wrinkled her nose.  "Kind of awesome for me, isn't it?" she asked, a wide smile spreading on her face.

"Mm, gotta keep you coming back for more, right?"

She laughed at that and then eased off of her seat so she could gather their used dishes and tote them to the sink while he pulled back on his shirt.  "So, tomorrow?" she suggested.

"We've got a filing tomorrow, so if I leave the office for lunch, Jaha might shit himself," Murphy denied as he tucked in his shirt and then started to straighten the collar.  "Wednesday?"

"I'm supposed to go into the office, but I might just go in tomorrow if I can get them to switch a meeting," Raven replied, turning around to smile at him.  "I can let you know."

He nodded quickly and hesitated, leaving his collar slightly askew.  "You okay?"

She took a deep breath and nodded.  "Yeah, I am.  Just another day with a crappy mom, right?"

"Right."  He smiled thinly, then frowned.  "Wait.  You said this was your ex's place, right?  The one from your neighborhood growing up?"  She had mentioned the first time he'd come over and stared at her place that she was from the projects originally and often had the same reaction to where she was living now.

She nodded quickly.  

"Is he an engineer too?  Is that where all the money is?" he wondered, looking around the place with its marble countertops and gleaming chrome appliances.

"Actually, Finn is nothing," Raven replied acidly, with probably more bite than she intended.  "Seriously.  No profession.  When he was just about to graduate from high school and I was already in college, his parents won the Powerball.  Not like one of the huge, half a billion dollar ones.  Just a small one, like a hundred and twenty million.  They got out of the projects so fast and got Finn into a fancy private college like you wouldn't believe.  They live in Virginia now, they bought this old farm that they don't farm on, and they have a beach house in North Carolina and a winter house in Colorado, and all that shit.  Finn just spends the money, pretending to work for certain causes or charities, but his attention wanders a lot."

"Fuck," Murphy breathed in response, eyes wide with surprise.  And jealousy, let's admit it.  Everyone in their right mind was jealous of the Collinses, Raven knew.  "Fucking lucky bastards."

"I mean, at the time, I was thrilled for them."  Raven shrugged again.  "I'm still pretty happy for them.  They were - they are - good people.  Finn's just a selfish guy, deep down, but his parents are good people.  If they want to just live a life of leisure, that's fine with me."

"I want to live a life of leisure," he grumbled.  "Guess that means I have to play the Powerball."

"Couple bucks  a week to keep the dream alive, right?" she suggested.  "I wouldn't necessarily throw twenty bucks a week away, but two seems reasonable."  Unconsciously, she drifted closer to him, fixing one side of his collar.  Only when he stilled under her touch and she noticed his surprised expression did she realize what she was doing.

"It was crooked," she defended herself.

"Yeah...thanks," he told her as their gazes locked.  

"Think of it as a thank-you for making me lunch," she mumbled, looking away first and trying to keep herself from blushing.  Why looking at Murphy fully clothed bothered her when she'd seen him naked more than a few times was beyond her.

"Gotcha."  He grabbed his phone off the counter and winced at the time.  "I gotta run.  Text me your schedule," he reminded her, already walking past her towards the door.

"Will do," she confirmed as he stepped into the hallway.  "And, uh, thanks again, John, for, you know."  Understanding.

He gave her a terse nod after catching her eye again.  "I know," he agreed, then shut the door behind himself.

Raven was so bemused by the whole visit that it took her ten minutes to realize he'd left her with all the dirty dishes to clean up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Murphy's apartment is modeled on [this](https://callmehux.tumblr.com/post/145857562147/for-those-having-trouble-seeing-the-model-for/).
> 
> I am on [Tumblr](https://callmehux.tumblr.com/) too.


	3. Day 45

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven gets some new information and makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my betas, iamblakelocked and @bfl1201.

**August 17, 2016**

  
  


When Murphy texted her the night before to say he couldn't make lunch and Clarke called about half an hour later to invite her to lunch and goofing off at the Griffins', Raven decided to take the next day off.  Now, as she settled into one of the lounge chairs on the screened-in second floor porch outside of Clarke's room while she sipped at vodka-spiked lemon ice, she couldn't help but appreciate the fact that she had excellent taste in friends.

Which meant that Clarke of course had to asked her, "So why don't you tell me about this guy you're seeing?" 

Apparently it was too much to hope that they could just sit with bellies full of some amazing shrimp tacos and watch 30 Rock on Clarke's laptop as planned.  Or in her case, listen to, because her eyes were closed under her sunglasses, as she tried to relax in her seat.  Annoyed that Clarke had an obsessive need to know just whom Raven was fucking, she blithely answered, "Because I'm not seeing him, just sexing him.  That's all it is."

"Like a one-night stand?  That you have three times a week?" Clarke asked with sharp skepticism.

Naturally, Raven had to turn back the question on her.  "Why aren't we talking about you living with a guy with whom you spend nearly all of your time outside of work and now have a fancy date with?"

"It's not a date."  Based on Clarke's immediate sour tone, she'd scored a direct hit.

"You asked him if he'd be your date to a fancy, schmancy party so everyone there would think you're together and he said, 'yes, no problem, I have a suit,'" Raven continued to poke at the wound.  "I'm pretty sure that's a green light for some sexing of your own.  So why not?"

Last year, Clarke had taken Wells as her shield against rich donors trying to hit on her or even grope her during the annual hospital fundraiser.  But now, for reasons that didn't exactly make a whole lot of sense to her, Clarke was taking Bellamy to the fundraiser while Wells stayed home with the kids.

Suspicious behavior indeed.

Clarke stalled by taking a sip of her drink, a frown planted firmly on her face.  "He's the nanny, Rave, I've told you about this.  And it doesn't matter what I feel about him, the kids need him.  I can't do anything to ruin it.  He's too important for me to fuck it up with." 

Bingo! Raven sat up, a shit-eating grin splitting her face wide and her eyes flying open at the admission.   "Oh, how you  _ feel _ about him...and how do you  _ feel _ about him?"

"It doesn't matter how I feel about him," she repeated firmly, keeping her gaze locked on her drink, even as her cheeks turned a bright red that had nothing to do with the alcohol.  

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it does." Raven herself didn't really hold much with "feelings," not since her own had led her astray with Finn, but Clarke was all about them.  Her parents had been all about them and Raven wanted her friend to be happy.  "Why wouldn't it matter?"

"I mean, I'm his employer.  And that's wrong.  I should not be thinking of him that way.  What would you think about this if I was the nanny and he was the doctor and he hit on me?  He's here for the kids.  And yeah, he's doing me a favor with this whole fundraiser thing but he's not dating anyone right now and I think the promise of a night without the kids and good food he doesn't have to cook himself is pretty exciting to him.  It would've been to me if you gave me the option when I was here with the kids all day a few months ago."  

Raven frowned at this explanation and internally scoffed.  She really doubted that Bellamy would be anything other than enthusiastic participant.  Anyone - hell, everyone - could see they were attracted to each other.  They were practically a matched set. "I think you're too sensitive to the whole nanny thing.  Yeah, so it's a little cliche.  But you wouldn't be forcing him to do anything.  You'd just make a pass, see if he had interest, not threatening him with termination or anything."  Simple.

Needled past some unknown point, Clarke actually sat up and began to waggle her finger at Raven.  "Okay, first. Everyone has the right to work without getting hit on by their boss.  Like, even if I don't outright threaten him with losing his job, there's an implication.  Second, he and I are both pretty fucking aware of that whole dynamic right now, the boss-employee thing.  Murphy just left a job because his boss basically demanded he sleep with her or else she was going to ruin him.  So that's hanging over everything."

What?

Raven's stomach twisted instantaneously even as her mind fixed on the implications of her statement. "Wait, what was that about Murphy? His boss tried to sleep with him?"

"Uh, more than that.  She was forcing him to work all these crazy hours because he wasn't sleeping with her, but then when they were alone, basically assaulting him.  At least touching him, you know, inappropriately.  She threatened to report him for harassment if he didn't do what she wanted."

Raven felt like she'd been kicked, her mind already going over that first day she'd met him, his over-the-top reaction to being touched, even by accident.  It made a fuck of a lot more sense to know he was literally being pawed at by some piece of shit at work.

But Clarke misunderstood her stunned silence and chided, "I know you hate him, but some women find him attractive.  Ethan obviously had a mother."

Glaring at her friend, Raven retorted, "I know that.  So what did he do?"

Taken aback, Clarke seemed to reply without thinking.  "Well.  He was going to sleep with her but I offered him a place here so he didn't feel he was trapped in that job.  Then I set him up with Thelonious who decided he wanted to hire him, and it worked out."

Great.  Fucker was going to submit to being god-damned raped.  Given what she'd learned about him, his devotion to his kid, she didn't need three guesses to figure out why.  "That's why…"  Raven paused, gnawing on her lip for a moment then sat straighter as she refocused on Clarke.  "I didn't know.  That's..rough."

Clarke nodded.  "Yeah.  So, basically, we were just both forcibly reminded of the employer-employee thing and how bad it can go. And third, I need Bellamy, Rave.  I  _ need _ him, the kids need him.  I can't risk the awkwardness that might start-up between us if I make a pass.  He has to be totally comfortable here because I completely rely on him.  Completely."

The earnestness of Clarke's tone, the raw honesty on her face, forced Raven to refocus her attention from the Murphy revelation back to Clarke's situation with Bellamy.  Which, despite everything, she just didn't think was a problem.

"I mean, I get all that.  I just think, well, I think he likes you too.  He doesn't look at you the way a guy looks at his boss, even one he's friendly with.  He looks at you like you're his…"  Raven stopped, trying to think of the right way to phrase her thoughts.

Again, Clarke waggled that finger at her.  "Don't say girlfriend."

"No, not girlfriend," Raven dismissed that description.  "You're definitely more than that to him.  Like his other half.  You guys don't see it, but I do, the way you're looking each other, communicating silently all the time."  Like a god-damned rom-com couple, that's what they were, but she didn't say that.

"What?  We do not do that."

Raven snorted. "Oh, I'm calling extreme bullshit on that."  She couldn't even believe she had to explain this out, but she had more than enough ammunition.  "You  _ constantly  _ share looks.  The kids ask for something, you glance at each other and one of you answers.  You automatically look for his nod, and he looks for yours when one of you needs to schedule something.  You needed pepper today, even and you looked at him and he passed it over and you didn't say a word!"

And yet, Clarke wasn't convinced.  "I put pepper on my salad all the time.  He just knows that.  He's a great nanny, he just anticipates a lot! He does all that for the kids.  For all you know, he just thinks I'm an incompetent adult."

"Oh no, he definitely doesn't think that." Raven rolled her eyes at her friend's obliviousness. "He looks at you like he wants you.  You just can't see it through the haze of your own lust."

"Oh my god, what is wrong with you?" Clarke gasped, flushing even redder.  "Aren't you getting enough sex from your guy?  Why do you have to invent this whole thing?"

"Totally getting enough sex. You should try it."  

She had never been bashful about getting laid, not the way Clarke always seemed almost embarrassed about her sex partners.  But then again, Raven knew that Clarke wasn't really bashful about the sex, it was the emotional part of a relationship that got her flustered.  The vulnerability of it all. She could understand that.  

But Bellamy was not Finn; he was competent, clearly into her and only her, and way hotter.  Clarke's reluctance was just annoying at this point, especially when it meant she was sexless as a result. 

"And there's nothing to invent.  It's there, it's real and I want you to get your head out of your ass and see that."  Of course, that sounded bad, the way it came out, so she added quickly, "With love, you know, I'm saying all that with love."

Clarke just glared at her and Raven stared back before speaking again.  "Fine," she said as she sat back in a huff.  "Let's just watch this and get drunk.  Well, you get drunk, I'm going to get lightly buzzed."  She still had to drive home eventually.

"Smartest thing you've said all afternoon," came the snipe, but being Clarke, she added more gently, "You know, with love."

It was so predictable, and really, so Clarke, that Raven just smiled.  "That's my line."

While they watched four episodes of 30 Rock, though Raven's thoughts kept returning to Murphy.

Fucking Murphy.

Raven had seen movies, of course, read a few books, about parents who would literally do anything to save their kids.  It was almost a trope, the storyline about a serial killer who is trying to save their dying child or whatever.  And you saw stories in the news, about parents running into burning buildings or getting shot as they acted as human shields for their kids, but Raven had never known anyone who actually  _ had _ done anything like that.

Until now, apparently.

Not that Murphy was saving Ethan's life.  No, just to make sure his kid was taken care of properly, that's what he was willing to sacrifice his body for.  Which meant that all the sniping, the rudeness, all of it, was just the asshole veneer of a very good man.

Raven knew what it was to be sexually harassed, of course.  She'd never been assaulted, thank god, but as a female engineer, she dealt with a lot of bullshit, especially in school.  The dick pictures on her workstation, the 'jokes' that she didn't mind, right, the insinuation that she was sleeping with her advisor.  Nevermind that she was actually better at this stuff than all of them or that they might be actually not good at all.  

The day she'd met Murphy, she knew he was still at his old job and she'd overheard that he'd come from being called into work.  She'd thought nothing of it at the time, but now realized with painful clarity that he'd probably been harassed, or even assaulted himself, before coming to the barbeque.  And then they'd stumbled into each other and he'd had that freak out.

Yeah, made a lot more sense now.

As they sat through however many episodes of the show, Raven itched to talk to him.  The guy went through some of the very same shit she had, but you know,  _ way _ worse, and she wanted, no,  _ needed _ him to know, that all their fucking and snark aside, she'd have his back.  You didn't meet people everyday who would do literally whatever it took for their kids.

Eventually, they switched to an old favorite, The Mummy, which featured a starring couple that Clarke freely admitted she'd sleep with, a leading woman who was clearly the brains of the outfit and didn't care what people expected of her, which appealed to Raven, and a lot of nice dialogue.

When the characters were inside the Mummy's tomb, and their drinks long done, Clarke sighed wistfully, "I always loved that dress she's wearing here.  I don't think I'm tall enough to pull it off though."

Raven just shook her head.  "Whatever, you'd look hot in it." Because with Clarke's figure, a dress that emphasized her curves and her boobs would be a hit with everyone.  She reached for her phone lazily, only to find out that it was past five which made her sit up straight.  "Oh shit, I need to get going.  Don't want to run into Murphy."

For all she wanted to talk to him, she didn't want to do it when Clarke was around to see it.  Not that talking about what she wanted to say before fucking him would great either, but better than the alternative.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened between you two?" Clarke asked as she stood.

"What's the point?  He's like your boy's brother and his son is here all the time.  It'd be like insulting a member of your family."  Because Murphy was definitely an asshole, but his assholery had a purpose.  Also, until she talked to him, she wasn't sure how to describe their relationship anymore.  Between understanding his background better and him understanding her background better, she thought they might be...friends, even.

Murphy could be described as abrasive.  Flat-out rude.  Skinny.  Smirky.  Or honest and direct.  Quick-witted.  Lean, with a wiry strength.  A survivor.  And an excellent parent. 

Fuck.  She did kind of want to be friends with him.

But Clarke didn't pick up on her uncertainty, only laughing in reply.  "I guess he is kind of like family now.  He's over all the time, Ethan's like one of the kids.  Who'd have thought?"

"Right."  Raven rubbed at her neck and tried to get them moving towards the door, changing the subject to when they could hang out again.  

"You know, outside of your house this time, maybe," Raven teased.  It's what she did best, deflecting by pointing out someone else's issues, like Clarke's homebody-ness.

Clarke chuckled, nodding.  "I know.  I just wanted to be super lazy today."

Raven couldn't argue with that.  "Eh, you deserve it, saving people's lives all the time."

Just as she reached the end of the staircase, Bellamy opened the front door wide and Raven found herself looking at Murphy, who clearly came directly from work.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted out, pausing on the last step.  As much as she'd been thinking about him, she wasn't prepared to talk to him right now.  Plus, she knew that he didn't pick up his son until closer to six, what with the traffic.

Apparently, that was too rude, because Clarke immediately hissed at her.  "Rave!"

Not that Murphy needed Clarke to defend him. "What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded in return.  "I, at least, have a kid to pick up."

Raven watched as Bellamy clapped a hand on Murphy's shoulder.  "He's here to take E out to his favorite dinner," he explained reasonably, apparently trying to head off an argument.

The boy in question came racing in from the family room, but actually stopped to hug Raven first after she took the last step.  Only then did he launch himself at his father's leg.

"I didn't know Murphy was coming early," Clarke interjected, looking at Bellamy meaningfully.

He looked sheepish.  "Forgot to tell you."

"Dad!" Ethan yanked on Murphy's hand.  "Can Raven come with us to dinner?"

Murphy looked like he'd swallowed his tongue, but soon recovered his voice.  "I don't know.  I think Raven probably wants to get her own dinner."

She didn't miss his inflection and she knew what he wanted her to say when Ethan asked, "You want to come with us, right, Raven?"   He grinned up at her.  "We're getting Chinese food to celebrate because I'm going into third grade, not second!"

Impressed, Raven returned his smile.  "Wow, that's big news."  There weren't a lot of six year-olds in third grade.  If she had been raised by someone as interested in her as Murphy was in his son, maybe she'd have been in third grade at six.  Hell, she knew she would have.  And what Clarke told her that afternoon just confirmed it.  He'd do anything for his kid.  It was damned attractive.

She glanced up at Murphy, deciding that yeah, maybe she could talk to him now.  Just not with Clarke and Bellamy as an audience.  Looking him directly in the eye, she said, "You know, I kind of feel like eating some Chinese food myself.  I'd love to go with you and celebrate."  

She didn't miss Clarke's quick intake of breath beside her or Bellamy's flabbergasted expression.

God, they were basically blind to everything, weren't they?

"Please, Dad?" came Ethan's voice.  "See, she  _ wants  _ to go with us."

Raven knew it was Ethan's request, not her agreement, that led to Murphy's jerked nod of assent.  "Fine.  We're going to the Shanghai Pearl.  You know where that is?" he asked, anger simmering just below the surface.  She thought she could even see a muscle in his jaw ripple.

She just lifted her chin, daring to say what he was thinking.  "Yeah, I can follow you there."

Ignoring his continuing glares as they left the house, she followed Murphy's beige Civic to the restaurant and pulled her car into the space next to his own.  Naturally, they were out of their car before she could get out of her own, but Ethan insisted on waiting by the restaurant's door for her to join them.

He was such a considerate little guy.

But Murphy's disgruntled expression almost made Raven laugh, actually.  So she flashed him a smile and took Ethan's hand when he grabbed hers to lead her inside.

"Don't worry so much, John," she told him as she moved by him.  "We're here to celebrate."

Hell, this could even be fun.

 

* * *

 

Murphy decided to focus on Ethan as they were led to a table by the hostess.  His son wanted Raven here and so he was going to accept it.  He could yell at Raven some other time for intruding on his family business.

She was his booty call, not his girlfriend.  She had no right to be around his son.

"I wanna sit next to Raven!" Ethan announced, keeping his hand in hers.

"Fine," Murphy answered shortly, sliding into the seat next to the wall and watching as Ethan scrambled into the one opposite him.  That left Raven on his diagonal, which would be better for him to ignore her as much as possible.

Not that she seemed to be the least disturbed by his sullen near-silence as she picked up one of the menus with a smile on her face.  "What should we eat?"

While Murphy scoffed, since they always ate the same thing, Ethan gathered up his legs underneath him and leaned on the table.  "Lo mein!"   He added a grin and continued with a wrinkled nose.  "And pu pu platter!"

Murphy immediate shook his head.  At Raven's questioning look, he explained begrudgingly, "He only eats like two things on the pu pu platter.  He just likes to say pu pu."  His son might be a genius but he was also six.  "Also the grill bit he likes."  Ethan was a little bit of a pyro, though he was far too cautious about hurting himself to want to play with matches or anything like that. 

One thing Murphy never had to worry about.

Ethan giggled, ducking his head.  "I like egg rolls!  And beef on the stick!"

Raven dutifully consulted the menu and noted, "The other stuff there, chicken skewers, the crab rangoon."  She shrugged a shoulder and looked Murphy dead in the eye.  

Her meaning was clear:  _ I can eat that stuff.  And it is his dinner. _

Murphy tore his gaze away from her to look at his son, who was overjoyed for some reason.  No, not some reason.  He was happy because he was about to eat his favorite meal with Raven.  Even now, Ethan stared at her, a delighted smile on his face, chattering at her about how he liked lo mein noodles.  He wasn't normally so talkative around other people, certainly not adults.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks.  His son adored Raven. 

"Do you like all noodles or just lo mein noodles?" Raven asked in return, setting down her menu.

"I like noodles, but lo mein at my favorites!"

"Well, I'm thinking of ordering the mei fun noodles.  They are super skinny noodles," Raven explained.  "But the ones I'm going to get are spicy.  Do you like spicy foods?"

"Some spicy food is okay," he allowed, pushing up on the table so that Murphy felt he had to interject.

"Butt on the chair, Ethan.  You know how to sit at a table."  But he couldn't help the half-smile on his face because his son was just so damned happy.

Laboriously, Ethan sat down on the chair correctly and soon became distracted by the waitress who took their order.  Murphy caved, making sure to order the pu pu platter, as well as the chicken lo mein for his son, and the moo shu beef for himself, while Raven added an order of the Singapore mei fun noodles.   A round of Coke's for the table and the crunchy noodles with duck sauce were set out soon after, though Murphy cautioned Ethan as he reached for some.

"You ordered a lot of food, so remember this isn't the dinner part."

"I know," Ethan dismissed, dipping one of the noodles in the sauce and turning to Raven.  "How come you don't like my daddy?"

Murphy nearly spit out his own bite of crunchy noodle.

Raven handled the question with a lot more grace.  "Who said that?" she asked, dipping her own noodle in the sauce.

"Cole." 

Of course.  Ever since they'd met, a lot of Ethan's conversation had been transformed into, "Cole this," and "Cole that."  On one hand, Ethan had never really had a best friend before, having always been the youngest and the smartest.  Cole was the same way, except he was a lot more outgoing than Ethan was.  On the other hand, Cole was still two years older and Murphy didn't want his son to just be a follower.

Not like his old man.

"Do you think I don't like your dad?" Raven just asked, amused.

Ethan thought about that, looking between the two adults as he ate the noodle, then nodded.  "But you should like him!  He's fun to play with," he explained.

"Oh yeah?  He definitely looks fun to play with," Raven replied, grinning mischievously at  Murphy, who had to actually think about swallowing his sip of soda correctly.  "Think I should set up a play date with him?" she asked Ethan.

He nodded vigorously while Murphy just shook his head and narrowed his eyes at Raven.  Now was not the time for jokes laced with innuendo.  

"You can come to our place!  I've got Legos, and Skylanders, and Pokemon cards.  And a catapult!  Uncle Bellamy bought me the model and I built it and it works!" Ethan continued, half-standing on his seat again in excitement.

Before Murphy could try to calm him down, Raven reached out to put a calming hand on Ethan's arm.  "Hey, didn't your dad say something about sitting down?" she reminded him gently.  Once Ethan was in his seat again, she added, "Maybe one day I'll go to your place, but you know, I like your dad.  We're both sort of prickly people at first, but we like each other just fine now.  That's why we're both here celebrating you today."  She took a sip of her soda and grinned at the boy.  "How come they decided to put you in the third grade?"

Ethan flushed with pride.  "'Cause I did a lot of second grade work in first grade because I was bored and they made me take a test and it wasn't hard and they said it wasn't right to be in second grade and that I was going to be in third grade!"

"What was on the test?"

While Raven interacted effortlessly with Ethan, Murphy considered the pair.  He knew they were both geniuses, but figured that someone like Raven wouldn't be that interested in someone so far behind herself.  Instead, she got the kid talking and asking questions that she could actually answer for him, like why some people called it math and some people called it maths.

"Because Americans think mathematics is a singular word that just has an 's' on the end, like the word mess, but Brits think mathematics is a plural word.  I think it also has to do with the fact that there are types of mathematics, so they think maths has to be all the different types, like algebra, arithmetic, geometry, calculus, trigonometry all together."

"What's your favorite math?" Ethan asked, all eagerness.

Raven looked thoughtful before nodding.  "I think geometry, because for me, the best part of my job is the building, and that means you have to know geometry.  But you know, the more you learn about the all the different types of math, the more you realize that they're all sort of the same. They all boil down the same sorts of pieces, numbers and curves and how they all relate to one another.  But basically geometry."

Murphy thought that Ethan might actually pee himself from happiness, to have someone with him who could literally speak his language.  Add in the arrival of the pu pu platter and the boy was literally in heaven.

As the dinner continued, that same old sinking feeling, the certainty that imminent disaster was upon him, hit Murphy hard.  He could see his son falling in love with this woman.  

And he could see this woman breaking his little heart when she got tired of them both.

After Ethan ate a decent part of his lo mein, and tried a bite of Raven's mei fun, he pushed back his chair.  "I gotta go to the bathroom," he said, hopping down from his chair.

Murphy pushed back his chair automatically before Ethan assured him, "I can do it myself, Dad!  I'm gonna be in the  _ third grade _ ."  The look he gave his father was all determination.

Finally, Murphy nodded, though he angled his chair so he could watch as Ethan made his way to the bathroom door in the back of the restaurant.  As soon as the kid walked out of earshot though, he started talking to Raven.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Eating some really good Singapore noodles?  I really like the way they make them here," she answered blithely.

"Look, it's one thing to fuck around me with me.  But that doesn't mean you get to involve my son in this," he bit out, trying to keep his temper in check.  He didn't want Ethan to come back to the table to find Raven had already abandoned him.

She wore a bemused expression.  "Wait, you think I'm trying to get in good with your son to get to you?" she asked incredulously. 

"Well, why the fuck are you here then?"

"Because I didn't want to tell you the next time we fuck that I found out about your old boss and the shit she pulled so I get why you were a giant asshat that first day.  It'd kill the mood," Raven reasoned, just in time for the waitress to hear the last part, color and walk away immediately.  

The engineer just smirked at this development.  "And your kid invited me."

Fuming at Clarke, because he knew she was the one who had to have the big mouth here, Murphy leaned on the table to hiss, "It's none of your business-"

"Oh, god damn it, John."  Raven gave him a withering look.  "I get it, okay.  I know what it's like to be sexually harassed.  I'm a female engineer.  And even if I didn't look like this, I'd have been harassed." 

"I don't care if you understand, okay?"  Murphy gritted his teeth.  "Doesn't give you the right to insert yourself into my son's life, because when you decide you're bored with us, he's not going to get it.  He's just going to feel abandoned and I'm not going to let you do that to him."

"Are you kidding me?"  Raven looked thunderously angry, but seemed to recognize that Ethan exiting the bathroom would mean he would soon be with them again.  She dropped her voice to ensure he wouldn't hear though, unless he was right next to them.  "I'm going to be around regardless, dumbass.  Bellamy's your boy, right, Ethan's uncle?  Well, Clarke's basically my sister.  As long as they're together, guess what, I'm going to be around.  Whatever happens between us.  I just came to say we could be friends, sex aside, but if you'd rather just fuck around, fine.  Still going to see Ethan at Clarke's place and he's still going to think I'm awesome because he has good taste, so just fucking deal with it."

Ethan marched proudly back to his seat, kneeling on the chair again and grinning at his dad.  "Can we get dessert now?"

Friends?  She wanted to be friends?  With...him?

Stunned at her answer, he just nodded at Ethan, who practically squealed in delight.  It took him a moment to find his voice enough to ask, "You washed your hands, right?"

"Yes!" Ethan sounded a little insulted by the question, holding out his hands for inspection.  "Smell!"

"That's okay, I believe you."  Murphy sat back in his seat, crossing his arms as Ethan immediately asked Raven what she wanted for dessert.  

After they settled on an order of Chinese donuts to share, Ethan launched into an explanation of how soap worked, which seemed to charm Raven more than anything else.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"We looked it up once 'cause I wanted to know," Ethan replied, using his straw to drink some water.

Raven turned her attention to Murphy, who felt compelled to explain, "I use Google a lot to keep up with him."  It's not like he knew how soap worked, although he felt that at some point someone had told him.  The information seemed vaguely familiar when they'd read it together.

Ethan's burning desire to know and to build had kept Murphy busy since the kid had figured out how to talk.  He'd gone from a couple of words - "no" and "Dada" - to full sentences in less than a month.  That had startled the shit out of him, hearing his eight month-old son say, "Digger make hole," while pointing to a plastic excavator toy Miller had brought him.  He couldn't even remember talking about a digging machine near him.  

Or trying to coax him into learning how to walk only to hear, "No, Dada, I fall," as the little boy explained why he didn't want to try.

But at least then, Murphy still knew more, understood more.  Now?  If it weren't for Google, he figured he'd have been at the library every other day, checking out books just so he could answer his son's questions.

He eyed the woman across the table from him.  Raven wouldn't have that problem.  Not for years, if ever.  Her brain was just as good as Ethan's and it might be nice to have someone he could talk to who would actually understand what Ethan was going through, or what he needed to be really happy.

And she was right.  She was going to be a part of Ethan's life, at least on the periphery, for a long time.  He saw what was going on between Clarke and Bellamy and Bellamy was Ethan's designated guardian if anything should happen to Murphy.  He was also his daycare provider.  Basically, as long as Bellamy's kids were Clarke's kids, Raven was going to be around Ethan sometimes, no matter what happened between them.  So, it's not like she'd just disappear if he managed to alienate or just bore Raven eventually.

Murphy hadn't ever had a friend before who was a girl - a woman, he should say.  But maybe it wasn't that bad an idea, their having sex aside.  Hell, being friends with a woman he was sleeping with was new territory, but it could work.  Raven was brilliant and honest, had kind of a mean sense of humor that she'd rein in if she thought you were offended.  Had dealt with all sorts of shit in her life and wasn't afraid to live just as she was, just as she wanted.

Yeah, he could see being friends with her.

By the time Ethan had consumed two of the donuts, giving himself a sugar high that would guarantee a crash right around bedtime, Murphy decided he would accept Raven as a friend, separate from her status as his...well, fuck buddy seemed too crude now.  Lover carried an implication that didn't exist.  He snorted quietly to himself when it occurred to him that "friends with benefits" actually applied to their situation.

When the waitress delivered the check, Raven quickly snatched it away.  "My treat," she announced, her tone daring Murphy to argue.

He just shook his head, raising a hand.  "No objections."  He never fought to pay for food he didn't have to.  "Thanks," he added, since, you know, that's what a friend would say.

Raven clearly didn't expect him to acquiesce so easily, so she practically jumped when Ethan added his own thanks loudly.  Practically in her ear.

"He's had a lot of sugar," Murphy smirked.

"Yeah, I can hear that," Raven marveled with a laugh.

Somehow, she managed to pay the check while Ethan wiggled in his seat, then seemed to run circles around them as they exited the restaurant.  The kid gave Raven a big hug and another over-loud thank you before getting into the car and Murphy gave him his phone to play a game on so he could have a minute with Raven in peace.

He shut the door behind him and turned to face her.  She wore an expectant look, instantly derailing his train of thought.

"Why do you want to be friends with me?" he blurted out.  She could do a whole lot better.

She just shrugged a shoulder.  "I like knowing a no bullshit guy.  I don't even think you lie to yourself.  It's...nice."

"Never been called 'nice' before," he snorted in reply, though he smiled.

"Well, if it's any consolation, you barely qualify."

He chuckled.  "Right.  Okay.  Friends," he agreed.  "But that doesn't mean I'm buying you a birthday present."  Her comment the other week forced him to buy a bottle of wine for Bellamy, who couldn't have looked more astonished.   Murphy definitely was not a present kind of guy.

Raven laughed.  "Deal.  I don't want to have to shop for you either."  She glanced at the kid behind them, then asked, voice light.  "Lunch tomorrow?"

"Yeah.  See you there," he confirmed.

"Looking forward to it," she grinned, then turned to get into her car.

And, Murphy mused as he got into his car, so was he.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to yell at me on [Tumblr](https://callmehux.tumblr.com/).


	4. Day 63

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friends with benefits...or something more?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my betas, @bfl1201 and iamblakelocked! 
> 
> Also, for those who haven't read the previous story, This Beautiful Life, a note about the Griffin house: the plan I use for their home is the same but on the basement level, the movie theater is a storage room and the racquetball court is a library, and the game room is mostly referred to as the playroom.

**September 4, 2016**

"That's the last thing on the list," Murphy declared as he put the pack of Cokes into the shopping cart.  As usual, he'd volunteered to bring the drinks to a party, this one being a crab and shrimp boil on the day before Labor Day at the Griffins'.  It wouldn't be quite as big as the last party, but it still required quite a few beverages.

He wasn't sure that Ethan would want to eat crab either, but Bellamy had assured him there would be other food for the kids to eat, including a few frozen pizzas they had in the fridge if nothing else.

"Now can we go to Cole's?" Ethan asked in a quiet voice, holding onto the side of the cart and letting his body hang.  As usual, he'd been completely bored by the process of going into a store, but he was still subdued from his punishment during the week so he hadn't put up too much of a fuss.   

 And it was a punishment, the first one Murphy ever really had to mete out.

In fact, the small pot with a lid they were purchasing was a replacement for the one he'd ruined when he and Cole decided their action figures need dropships as they were thrown off the second floor porch.  And they almost erased something on Charlie's computer and bothered Cassidy so she couldn't do her summer homework. Everything about the incident four days ago struck Murphy as Cole's influence, but he'd gotten so angry at Ethan for following along with the older boy's plan.

Bellamy had given the boys a half-day timeout to serve the next day, but Murphy wanted to make sure something like this never happened again.  He'd maintained his silence in the car ride home, but then read Ethan the riot act once they got there.  He hadn't yelled, but he'd impressed upon the boy exactly how dangerous his stunt had been.

_"You are so smart, Ethan, and we're at a school that lets you be exactly as smart as you can be, but without Bellamy and Clarke's help, you couldn't go to that school.  You'd go to a school where they would hold you back and you'd be bored all day.  And instead of behaving, you decided to ruin something of Clarke's.  And play with someone else's computer without permission.  And just be rude to Cassidy.  Do you realize that Clarke and Bellamy could easily say you couldn't come over again?  That we'd have to take you out of school and put you in another one?  Or worse, if you behave like this at school, they might put you into second grade again.  Because you're already the littlest but if you can't behave right, they won't put you in the older classes!"_

Naturally, Ethan had cried.  He wasn't used to being disciplined or even disappointing his father and he had no idea how to handle it.  Hell, he didn't even know how to take well-meaning, gentle criticism most days.  His normal reaction was to freeze and stare and Murphy just knew that Ethan was trying to prevent himself from crying.

Murphy tried to make sure he was unmoved by the tears, forcing himself to wear an impassive expression while Ethan wrote an apology note to Clarke before dinner and then taking away away his Legos, just like Cole's had been taken away at the Griffins.  He also added a TV prohibition until school started.

He knew it was a little bit of an overkill, but he couldn't risk Ethan doing anything like that again.  If Clarke decided Ethan was more trouble than he was worth, they were completely fucked.  There was no way Murphy could afford to replace his after-school care right now.  Add in the fact that Ethan had displayed that follower tendency that he didn't like and Murphy decided to lower the boom now.

 " _You can't let other people make the decisions for you, Ethan.  You knew everything you did was wrong but you still did it because Cole did.  You are not Cole's henchman!  You have to be responsible for yourself!"_

Ethan cried himself to sleep that night, the quiet kind of tears that just wouldn't stop flowing.  And he'd been subdued since, wary of pissing off his father, Bellamy or Clarke, even though they didn't speak about it after his timeout finished.   He didn't even ask to watch TV but had wanted more hugs, a reassurance that he was still loved, and neither Murphy nor Bellamy had denied him that.  Hell, Murphy still read with him at night before bed and they still talked about whatever he wanted to talk about, but Ethan was living his punishment and would be for another day until school started for the year.

Murphy just hoped it worked.  Because having to enforce punishment was making him miserable too.

Nor had it been the only fiasco of the week.  He hadn't seen Raven since Tuesday, between her work being busy and a flurry of hearings and filing deadlines in the office. Which was why he had agreed to go to yet another Griffin "party" at all, even though Ethan spending more time with Cole wasn't exactly something he wanted and he himself didn't feel much like socializing.  But Murphy knew that Raven was already there.  She'd taken up residence in the guest room they'd christened all those weeks ago, hiding out there for the long weekend while one of her neighbors undertook some very noisy improvements.  

Not that he could think of anything in those swanky apartments that needed to be improved, but that was rich people for you.  Nothing was ever good enough for them.

"Yeah, we can go.  Just need to pay for this stuff first."

Ethan huffed at the annoyance of having to wait in a line and pay for something before they left, but dutifully climbed off the cart to walk by Murphy's side as they made their way to the front of the store.  He also was smart enough not to ask to go to the toy section, but he froze as they passed one of those special back-to-school sections with all the school supplies.  

"Daddy?  Can I look here?" he asked in a small voice.

"You already have all your stuff for school."  Bellamy had taken all the kids the week before, a task Murphy had gleefully handed over along with the list of supplies demanded by the school and the money to pay for it.

"I know, but I just want to look.  Please?"  Ethan looked up at him with his big, sad, blue eyes and he felt his resolve crumble.  At least it wasn't the toy section.

Murphy shook his head, wondering again how he and Anya had created this bookish, school-supply-loving kid.  "Okay.  Just for a few minutes," he agreed, turning the cart into the aisle as Ethan took off.

He parked the cart in a relatively traffic-free spot and pulled out his phone, checking his messages while Ethan carefully inspected the superhero folders available.  Murphy smiled to find he had a couple of messages from Raven waiting for him.

 **Raven:**   _When are you getting here?_

 **Raven:**   _Because I was promised an pre-party orgasm and if you can't deliver…_

In the six days since their last "lunch," their text messages had turned from purely logistical to downright explicit.  Murphy hadn't really been a sexting guy, but with Raven, it was a lot of fun.

_What, you'll start without me?_

_Yeah, that'd be awful, the thought of you wet and_

_touching yourself while you think of me eating you out._

**Raven:** _When are you getting here?_

_20 minutes? Gotta pull Ethan away from the school_

_supply aisle._

**Raven:**   _Get him mechanical pencils.  Gives you a line_

_the same width the whole time you're drafting._

_He got regular pencils that the school required._

_Not much drafting in the third grade._

**Raven:**   _He spends half his free time drafting building plans._

 **Raven:**   _MECHANICAL PENCILS FTW._

 **Raven:**   _Get some rulers.  We can do naughty student kink stuff._

 **Raven:**   _Maybe not today.  But Tuesday, lunch._

 **Raven:**   _You dress sort of school uniform-ish for work anyway._

Murphy laughed, shaking his head at the effortless way Raven went from dirty to lecturing and back again.  Being friends with her and asking her questions about how to best encourage Ethan had worked out better than expected; Raven had endless recommendations for books and activities for the boy, all of which he'd enjoyed so far.  

All in all, their...situation...was working out very well for him too.

"Okay, Ethan.  Let's get going," he said, putting away his phone and looking up at the boy.

To his surprise, Ethan was already by his side, holding a pad in his hand.  "Daddy," he began, his voice both serious and eager.  "Can I get this?  Please?"

Murphy looked over the pad of graphing paper his son had picked out.  "You don't need this for school."

"I know, but it'll help me when I draw my plans!  'Cause the squares will make it all easier 'cause the lines are there!" Ethan argued earnestly.

"You have-" Murphy tried not to smile. "- a ruler at home."

"But this is already on the paper!"

He thought about what Raven had said, not to mention like every parenting article he'd ever read, about encouraging your kid, as he leaned against the handlebar of the cart.  But he was also mindful about Ethan's punishment.  "If I get this for you, you can't use it until next weekend."

Ethan heaved a sigh.  "Because I'm still not off punishment?"  He looked downright morose about it.

"If you ask about this before next weekend, I'm going to return it to the store," Murphy cautioned.  "Do you still want me to buy it, knowing you can't play with it for six days?"

His son considered it for a few seconds before nodding.  "Yes, please."

"Okay.  When we get home, I'm going to put it away."  Murphy tossed the pad into the basket of the cart, then wheeled it around.  "Let's get going."

As they walked out of the aisle, a set of colorful rulers caught his eye, and without Ethan noticing, Murphy grabbed one of them to put in the cart.  Next to them were a series of protractors, and thinking that Ethan might like one of those to draw angles, he pulled one off the shelf and threw it into the cart as well.  He added a pack of mechanical pencils too, mindful of what Raven had told him.

Only then did he notice that a woman with a shopping basket on one arm was watching him.  She had dirty blonde hair pulled up into that messy bun thing that women did, wore a set of yoga pants that showed off a very nice ass, and one of those workout tops.   She gave him a flirty look, the kind he'd frequently get when someone noticed him parenting his kid in public, and on another day, he might have stopped to chat her up, maybe even ask for her number.  

Instead he just gave her a nod and headed for the registers.

Not that he and Raven ever said anything about being exclusive.  Hell, they hadn't even specifically labeled anything they did.  But it felt wrong to get someone else's number as a backup for whenever Raven decided she was done with whatever they were doing.  It'd be a shitty thing to do to both this woman and Raven, because who the fuck made plans for after they got dumped?  

His asshole reputation notwithstanding, he just wasn't that kind of guy.

Fortunately, they were opening up new checkout lines when he and Ethan got to the front of the store and within ten minutes, they were at the car.  As usual, the first thing he did was get his son into the car and secure before loading up the trunk, but soon enough they were on their way even as the first drizzle of rain started to fall from the sky.

"Daddy?  Remember when I did that project about the clouds?"

"Yeah, I remember," Murphy confirmed as he pulled the car out of the parking lot.

"Do you think Raven would like if I showed it to her?"

Ethan had been at the Griffins still on Friday night when Raven showed up with her stuff. While Cole celebrated about having the engineer in his house all weekend, Ethan had tried to convince her to come visit them instead.  He even promised her his bed.  Raven had the presence of mind to tell both boys that she'd actually be working a lot that weekend anyway, and from her texts, Murphy knew that she'd spent most of the time holed up in the guest room.

Didn't keep Ethan from being jealous of Cole though.

"I don't know.  Do you remember where we even put it?"  Murphy wondered.  He thought that it might have been in the box that got damaged when they'd accidentally left Ethan's window opened enough for the rain to get in last spring.  He didn't relish having to go look for it and come up empty.

Ethan took a moment to think, then shook his head.  "No!"

"You know Raven's going to probably be working when we get to the Griffins'."  Better keep his kid's expectations low.

"Really?"  Ethan couldn't have sounded more disappointed.

"Yeah, it happens.  Like how sometimes I have to work on the weekends, remember?"  Since it wasn't all that long ago he spent most Saturdays in the office with Ontari instead of home with his kid.

"I guess so."

Ethan subsided for the rest of the ride, content to just sit in the back and wait.  When they got to the house, he even carried in one of the two liters of iced tea and held the door open for his father, so that Murphy could carry in the rest of the drinks.  

"We're here!" Ethan called as soon as Murphy was through the door.

"Who left the door unlocked?" Bellamy asked as he walked in from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel which he threw over his shoulder when he was done.  He pulled a couple of cases from Murphy's filled hands, shaking his head.  "I bet it was Charlie," he grumbled.

"You know there's like, no crime other than like a banker plotting the next credit bubble happening in this neighborhood, right?" Murphy snarked, kicking the door shut behind himself.

"You never know," Bellamy told him ominously, but it made Murphy roll his eyes.  Raven told him all about Clarke's "Murder Channel" habit and he was certain the doctor's habit of watching true crime shows only heightened Bellamy's own, natural protective instincts.

They found the rest of the family in the kitchen. Clarke and her sister were pulling ingredients out of the fridge, while her oldest brother was washing potatoes in the sink and Cole was beginning to pull the leaves off of ears of corn by the trashcan. The baby was in his high chair, scribbling madly with a crayon on some yellow construction paper.

For once, Murphy and his son were among the first to arrive, which apparently meant they were about to be drafted into helping with the food prep.  

"E, why don't you help Cole shuck the corn?" Bellamy directed, pulling the soda from the kid's arms.  

Before he could be assigned a task, Murphy dumped the rest of the soda boxes by the fridge and began to put the cans inside, once the girls moved out of the way.  When Bellamy went over to help Charlie prep the potatoes, Murphy said something about using the bathroom and wandered down the hallway to where it was, conveniently next to the guest room door.

He knocked twice, sharply, and heard Raven call him into the room.  He hurried through the door, closing it behind him and turned to find the woman herself perched on the corner of the bed.

Raven wore one of her usual tank tops - this one black - and what looked like a red satin robe.  And nothing else other than a smirk.

Somehow, he'd gotten into a sexual relationship with a woman who looked like a model.  The sight of her, her naked legs not quite splayed in invitation, the tight curls at the apex of her thighs drew him in like a beacon.

"About time," she drawled as she leaned back on her hands, the foot on her good leg moving in slow circles.  "I almost began without you."

"That would be a real shame," he repeated, a little breathless at the sight before him.  "How'd you know it was me?" he wondered, moving forward double-time to stand between her legs, skimming the tips of his fingers up her bare thighs.

"You have a distinctive knock," she admitted, looking over him though her gaze stayed at his groin for a long moment before returning to his face.   "Do you need an engraved invitation?"

"I'm just trying to decide if we have enough time for me to eat you out first," he admitted, even as he crawled over her carefully to steal a kiss that she was only too eager to give him.  Her tongue slipped into his mouth and he lost himself momentarily in the faint taste of iced tea that lingered on her until he got to the sharp sweetness that was all Raven herself.

He was hard before he got to the bed, but his cock practically throbbed by the time he could break away for some air.

"Been thinking about it for almost a week," he murmured when he could.

Raven practically purred underneath him.  "I vote 'yes'."  He grinned at her wolfishly, capturing her mouth for another quick kiss.

"But also, no, we definitely don't have the time," she added, pulling her arms out of the robe as he traced the line of her jaw with his tongue and then began to nibble at the delicate skin by her ear.

"What about your naughty school boy fantasy?" he murmured, lifting a hand to brush back some of her hair so he could lavish more attention to her neck, only dimly recalling that he'd left the ruler in the car.

"Definitely don't have the time to do that one right," Raven told him throatily.  "Not now."

Murphy felt her fingers working at the button of his shorts and dipped his head to rest on her shoulder with a low moan when her hand slipped inside to palm him.  

He heard the smile in her voice when she said, "Got to get these off," while he fastened his lips on the soft skin at the junction of her neck and shoulder, sucking a faint mark onto her and then lavving the faint mark he left.

Roughly, Raven shoved his shorts and boxers down over the curve of his ass, grinning when he was finally free.  "Not going six days without again," she promised him, one of her hands coming up to pull his mouth towards her own for another desperate kiss.  

God, he loved getting bossed around by this woman.  And her fucking tongue...

Her hands wrapped around his hips, pulling him towards her center, and only at the last moment did he pull back.  "Condom," he gasped the reminder.

Raven groaned in annoyance, releasing him all at once and flopping back on the bed.  "John…"

"No, have to have it," he answered, turning over to sit next to her while he hurriedly looked for his wallet in his shorts.  It took nearly a minute to get the condom out and roll it onto himself, a task made more difficulty by Raven's near whispered admonishments to do this faster, her hands rubbing at his back urgently, the light scratch of her fingernails distracting him.

But by the time the latex was in place, she'd rolled onto her side and was slowly getting to her feet.  "I get to be on top if you're going to be so slow," she teased him, using his shoulder to steady herself as she leaned down for a kiss that promised him that he was about to be fucked but good.

Nearly shivering in anticipation, he put his hands on her hips, to guide and steady her as she slowly lowered herself onto him.  Raven sighed in pleasure as his cock began to push inside her, the sound and feel of his cock entering her wet heat driving him to moan loudly.  He could feel her walls clinging to him tightly she slipped ever lower on his length, but watching her impale herself on him, seeing his cock slowly disappear inside of her drove him nearly mad.

This fucking woman.

She had almost buried him to the hilt when a quick knock sounded and Murphy's gaze flew to the door.  Almost in slow motion, he watched as Clarke walked into the room.

"Hey, Rave, I think that's enough work for now-"

The blonde stopped on a dime, blue eyes wide as Raven finally sank down that last inch.

"Oh my god!" Clarke exclaimed as she hastily turned around.

Murphy looked at Raven's face as she turned to her friend, fully expecting to see her blushing with embarrassment at being caught with him, of all people.   

Instead, Raven just looked pissed.  "Clarke!  Why didn't you wait for the 'come in' part?" she demanded.

Stunned, Murphy said absolutely nothing, only curled an arm protectively around Raven's back even as he twitched inside of her.

"I..I...I'm going," Clarke managed to get out as she fled the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

He heard and felt Raven sigh as she turned back to face him, her hand coming up to brush at his cheek fondly.  "You know what this means, right?"

Murphy blinked, his stomach twisting, and nodded.  Now that their secret was out, their fun was over, not that he could put it into words for some reason.  For once, his tongue had failed him completely.

Over the course of the past couple of months, Raven had never suggested she wanted anything more than the friendly sex they were having.  And it made sense, that a smart, beautiful woman like her wouldn't want her friends to know she was banging some random guy.

Hell, if he didn't have Ethan, he doubted she'd ever have even looked his way.

"Someone forgot to lock the door," Raven agreed with a nod, leaning forward to brush her lips against his.  "And now you don't get to finish because I have to go make sure Clarke's okay with us fucking."

"What?" he asked, bucking underneath her as she clenched around his cock.  

He was so fucking eloquent today.

"This is what you get for failing to lock the door.  And insisting, _still_ , post-clean tests, that we need to use a condom.  We could be done by now," she informed him, rolling her hips and drawing a whimper out of him while she smirked.  "But don't worry.  We can sneak away later.  Or I'll just fuck your brains out on Tuesday, during lunch."  As she continued to talk, she was easing her way back to her feet.

He whined as his cock slid free of her, resting his head momentarily against her stomach as she stood in front of him.  Her fingers began to thread through his hair comfortingly and he heard the smile in her voice as she added, "I know.  Me too."  

As frustrated as he was, sexually speaking, the profound relief that flowed through him at her words left him on the edge of trembling.  Whatever they had, he didn't want to stop.  Not now, not any time soon.  He couldn't remember the last time he felt that way about a woman.  Hell, he hadn't even felt that way about Anya, just a kind of amazement that she wanted to fuck him at all.

But one thing she had to understand if they were going to continue.  

He swallowed, finding his voice.  "My fault on the door," he acknowledged roughly.  "But as amazing as you are, I can't risk getting you pregnant.  I'm sorry.  I can't afford another kid.  I barely know what I'm doing this with one.  I can't imagine trying to keep up with one that was half you."

"I get it.  But you know, you're doing a great job with the one you've got," Raven answered quietly, tilting his head up with a gentle touch.  "Help me get dressed so I can run after Clarke."

He nodded, getting her discarded panties and shorts from where she'd left them.  She shimmied into them quickly, then pulled on her brace, fastening it in only in three places before she limped towards the door.  But she paused with her hand on the doorknob, gazing back at him.

"Um, I know we said we're not birthday gift people, but, if you're thinking of something for me, that little outfit you've got on now is really doing it for me," she teased, nodding towards his condom-clad erection.

He huffed, leaning down to grab his shorts.  "I'm owed a good fucking," he reminded her, deciding to follow her lead back into sex talk.  It was safer, that way.

"My word's good, you know that."  Raven glanced down, then met his eyes in the way she did when she was about to say something she thought he might challenge.  "I'll make sure Clarke doesn't talk about us.  I know you don't want Ethan to find out that way."

Surprised all over again, he could only nod as she slipped out into the hallway.  Even though he really just wanted to ask if that meant she was okay with everyone knowing.  Or if she wanted him to tell Ethan.  Or if she really just wanted to make Clarke shut up about it.  

And, as he scrambled into his clothes and walked into the bathroom to dispose of the sadly not-that-used condom, he wondered which answer he'd prefer.

But he knew that was a lie, a way to try to protect himself in case she just wanted to keep the secret from getting out.  Because he knew without a doubt that if she wanted him, he'd happily tell the world they were together.

 

* * *

   

Raven combed out some of her hair with her hand once she made it downstairs, having overheard Bellamy telling Wells and Luna as they came in that Clarke was getting the big pots from the storage room.  She figured it would be a good place to have a quick heart-to-heart with her friend, especially to let her know not to say anything to anyone.

Because honestly, she needed to have a real conversation with Murphy about it all first.  She was a little tired of only seeing him at their "lunches," as the previous week had made painfully clear.  By Friday, she'd realized that she wasn't just missing the sex, as good as it was.  She liked _talking_ with him.  And seeing Ethan, too.  She wanted to be able to go over to their place and hang out with them, or meet him and Ethan for an actual meal somewhere, and maybe even go on an actual date with Murphy if he could get a babysitter.  

Somewhere along the way, she'd apparently decided she was done with hanging out by herself all the time.  Raven definitely needed her own spaces, and she didn't think that would ever change completely, but she was basically over being a party of one.  

It was boring.

Murphy - the Murphys - weren't.

With this thought firmly in mind, Raven cautiously entered the storage room, only to find Clarke facing the door, her back to a pile of boxes on which a couple of huge stock pots sat.  Her arms folded defensively, she looked ready for a fight.

"Hey," Raven began, because, well, she wasn't trying to start a fight.

"Hey?" Clarke asked incredulously.

Raven rolled her eyes, her attempt at diplomacy immediately abandoned in the face of Clarke's attitude.  "Well, what do you want me to say?  Sorry you saw Murphy's junk?"

"Why are you having sex in the middle of the day in my house with a guy you don't even like?" Clarke fired back.

"We haven't gotten a chance to get together in a few days, because he's been busy at work and so have I."  Raven wasn't about to make up a story and that was the truth.  If she'd been able to fuck him at her place this past week, she'd have done it.

But Clarke couldn't seem to believe it.  "Are you telling me Murphy's your lunchtime guy?"

"Yeah, how many guys do you think I'm sleeping with?" Raven asked, affronted.  Not that there was anything wrong with sleeping around, per se, but that wasn't her deal with Murphy.  Not that they'd ever _said_ that, but she knew he wasn't with anyone else and neither was she.  What would even be the point?  There was nothing out there that would be better than what she had with Murphy.

Shocking herself with the train of her thoughts, she almost missed Clarke's reply.

"I..I don't know, I'm not judging you."

"Oh yeah?  Sounds an awful lot like judging me," Raven snapped, almost uncomfortable with her realization.

"I'm just surprised is all!  You don't even like him!" Clarke flushed as she retorted.

Raven couldn't believe she had to spell it out for her friend.  "I like him!  Come on, I wouldn't have been sleeping with him for weeks if I didn't like him!"  

"Have you guys been doing it in my house before today? I haven't even been doing it in my house!"

Ah, now Raven could see the problem.  Well, some of the problem.  "That's not my fault!  You've got a guy, just...do it!" She hesitated, only to admit, "But yeah, we've done it in your house before.  Kinda started with doing it in your house, actually."

"What?"

"You know, the Fourth."  She couldn't help the smug smile that appeared momentarily.  They started with a bang.

Clarke blinked, arms falling to her side.  "You hated him on the Fourth!  I thought you were going to kill him!"  

And for some reason, that pissed off Raven to no end.  Like she was some stupid hothead who locked in an opinion and couldn't be swayed by facts.  

"Listen, it's not exactly your business, but after I found out Ethan was his, we kinda did a hate flirting thing and ended up banging in the guest room, okay?  And then a couple of weeks later, we did it in the bathroom and after that, we just sort of started screwing each other."

She watched her friend's eyes go wide with concern as she sat down heavily.  "Raven," she breathed. "You can't...he's got a kid, you can't just fuck around with him."

That Clarke thought that she was capable of toying with a guy and his kid hurt Raven like a punch to the gut.  "Oh my god, I'm not, okay, I'm not.  Maybe it started that way, but I swear, I'm not.  I like the asshole, okay? He's...my kind of asshole," she explained earnestly.

And it was true.  Terribly true, really.  Raven _liked_ him.  Murphy just would not take shit from anyone.  If he was unhappy, he said something.  And god forbid his kid be in trouble.  She was certain he'd burn the world down before he let something bad happen to Ethan.

Maybe she hoped that one day she could say the same for herself.  

Clarke seemed to finally get it though, to judge from the way her shoulders sagged and she looked hopelessly at her.  "I..I thought you hated him."

"We had a bad first meeting, yeah.  But we got past it."  Deciding she had enough of standing, Raven came to take a seat next to Clarke on the box.  "I hated his mouth, but he showed me he can use it for other, more interesting things," she admitted, smiling slyly.

Murphy did have a great mouth, as he had so recently proved again.

Of course that made Clarke bury her face in her hands.  "Oh, ugh.  I can't think about Murphy doing it."

Raven chuckled.  "I know, he's like your boy's brother.  Besides."  She sobered as her next thought occurred to her.  "I don't want people thinking of him like that.  He's...mine."

"You sound surprised," Clarke said as she managed to pull her head from her hands.

That was true too. Just a moment ago, Raven thought she liked him.  But that was too thin a word for what she actually felt for him, and to be honest, it scared her a little.  She hadn't felt this way about anyone since Finn, and right now, she just wanted to talk it through with her best friend.

"I did not expect to like him so much, okay, you're right.  But I do.  And I totally get that he has a kid.  Him having a kid is a big attraction for me, believe it or not."  Never in a million years would Raven have thought she'd like a guy with a kid, much less think that maybe there was something more there.  "He's so good with Ethan, and Ethan's the greatest.  It's hot.  I'm not saying I want to _make_ kids with him or anything, but I like him a lot," she defended her choice.  

Murphy's...dadness...is exactly what had convinced her he was a good guy, a good man, someone she could be happy with.  After everything that happened with Finn, she couldn't take blind selfishness.  Ultimately, that's what led to her break-up with Wick too.  He thought he loved her, but he wouldn't listen to what she wanted.  

But Murphy...she thought they could, that they did, probably want the same thing.  Not drama, but someone to be there for each other.  To want the best for Ethan.  Hell, that's where his paranoia about the condoms came from. They sure as hell were compatible in bed.  She didn't want to get ahead of herself, but she could even see something...long-term here.

Now she just had to convince him that they should date.  Publically.  Which meant he had to tell Ethan.  The kid deserved to find out first.

At least there, with Ethan, Raven remained confident the kid would approve.

Almost like she was reading her mind, Clarke interrupted her thoughts. "He's a better person than he seems, yeah, I know that.  But...is Ethan okay with this?"

"We haven't actually told him yet.  Murphy's careful with him." Raven couldn't have understated that any further.  Murphy had even told her, he basically lived for making his kid happy.  And it was also something of an evasion, since they hadn't talked about a longterm anything.  But she remembered what he said in the restaurant, about Raven toying with him, and it made her hopeful that he'd be on board with a real relationship.  "I think he wanted to make sure we were sort of serious.  I just have to convince him I really am."

Clarke nodded, as though she understood.  "I don't know that he's had a lot of serious dating experience."

Raven shook her head, knowing that Murphy's lack of experience, emotionally speaking, was going to be one of the things they'd have to deal with together.  "Oh, he hasn't.  That's the issue."  Which was not the least due to Ethan's mother, the way she treated Murphy.  "Did you know his baby mama didn't even tell him she was pregnant?  Was just going to have the kid and not even tell him? That's not right."

"Yeah, I knew that.  Bellamy and Miller knew her, uh, Anya, I think her name is," Clarke offered with a nod.

"Yeah.  But he's never said anything bad about her to Ethan, who just thinks of her as this soldier who wanted him so much, who picked out his name and had this nursery all set up for him," Raven acknowledged.  For all his foul mouth and bluster, Murphy was a good guy and he wasn't going to badmouth Ethan's dead mother, who at least was making all the preparations to be an actual parent, from what Murphy had told her.  "I mean, she sounds like she'd have been a decent mother, treating Murphy like a sperm donor notwithstanding."  

Clarke paused, clearly trying to figure out how to say something. "How did you...how did you go from hating him to-"  She gave an annoyed huff.  "Screwing him, in a single day?"

That made Raven chuckle.  "I don't know.  We were...trading barbs back and forth and suddenly I just had to know what his tongue tasted like, see if it could do anything more than insult people."

Not that her friend seemed to believe her, exactly.  "And that's it?  That's all it took from you to go from arguing with him to fucking him in my house?  I don't know if I could just do that, just kiss someone like that."

Raven took a moment to look her over and realized exactly why Clarke didn't understand. "I don't think you've ever been the initiator, right?"  She was always the one being chased, not the chaser.  "I don't know what to say, other than it's awesome, being the one who decides. Sometimes you just have to go for it and see where it leads. If I had thought about what I was doing with Murphy, I wouldn't be with him now."

"So..you're definitely with him?" Clarke pounced on her words.

"Yeah, I am."  Raven nodded once, confident in her decision.  She just had to make sure Murphy was on board.

She nudged Clarke's shoulder with her own, deciding that now was the perfect opportunity to nudge her in the right direction.  "Why don't you hit on the hot guy who's living in your house?  I know you want to.  I know he would want you to."

"What?" Clarke stammered, flushing like a teenager.  "Did he say something to Murphy?"  

"Murphy would never tell me if he did.  He's just annoyed that you're not together yet, probably because he can't appreciate will-they-or-won't-they tension.  Hell, he's annoyed that Miller and Bryan aren't officially married yet.  He's definitely a shit-or-get-off the pot kind of guy."  He'd laid out his disgust at both situations last week, as they shared some cheeseburgers he'd picked up on the way to her place.  

Clarke heaved a sigh that made Raven want to roll her eyes again.  

"That's kind of what I'm afraid of.  The shit, that is, more hitting the fan, though.  What if he doesn't like me that way?" Clarke asked, as if she was a teenager instead of a grown woman who was a surgeon for god sake.  

Raven just laughed at the absurdity of that. "Yeah, okay, next.  That boy's gone for you."  

"Yeah?" Watching Clarke's face light up with a huge grin made Raven laugh all over again.

"Oh my god, yes.  And you know it. So what is it really?"

"The kids. What if they don't like us that way?"  

It always came down to the kids, Raven knew.  When you had kids, you had to put them first.  With her own crappy childhood as background, she was more than on board with that kind of thinking.  

But she also knew that there was a thing as giving kids too much power.  They were still kids, not adults, and they didn't get to call the shots, especially on stuff like who their parents were dating.

"Tough?  Look, it's one thing when a kid doesn't like a person, but it's because when you're not around, that person is nasty to the kid or they creep the kid out, or whatever.  But your kids love Bellamy.  And they don't get a say in who you get to be with, other than that person not setting off their creep-radar.  Who you're with is your decision, not theirs.  They'll get used to you two together.  What would even change in their lives?  I can't see either of you two suddenly getting super interested in having crazy date nights all the time."

Maybe it was easier for her say, since Raven was pretty certain that Ethan liked her the way Cole did and wouldn't mind at all if she dated his dad.  But the Griffin kids all liked Bellamy.  Hell, she'd seen them all, except Charlie, even hang off him at one time or another.  He'd absolutely put them first and basically, the only change that Raven could see would be that her friend would be getting laid.  

But before Clarke could answer, they heard someone thump down the stairs.  Charlie soon appeared in the doorway with a frown.   "What happened to you two?  You were supposed to get the pots."

"We, ah, got distracted.  Girl talk," Raven informed, then snorted when he made a face.  It was true about boys maturing more slowly than girls. "You're so desperate for the pots, you can help us lug them upstairs."  She pushed herself to her feet and motioned to one of the bulkier ones.

"It's just we have to wash them and get the water boiling, otherwise it'll be forever 'til we eat," Charlie tried to explain his impatience, as if anyone who knew him would think something other than his stomach was his primary concern.

But Clarke just laughed and stood up. "And here's the crux of the problem for him.  Delayed meal is a true nightmare for him."

" _Clarke_ ," Charlie complained.

"Okay, okay, we're going.  After you, mister," she answered, picking up one of the pots herself.  But after he was already running back upstairs, she added, "Rave?  Thanks."

"No problem.  Just, ah, don't mention the Murphy thing?" Raven belatedly remembered what she was supposed to be doing down here.

"I won't, I get it," Clarke agreed, because she was good that way.

After they went back upstairs, Raven found herself helping Clarke get the dining room table set up with a disposable tablecloth and then newspapers all over that.

"Where did you get all the paper?" Raven wondered as she shook out a couple more pages to lay on the table.

"Bellamy grabbed a couple of Sunday papers when he ran out for bagels this morning," Clarke admitted as she smoothed down a few sheets.

"Oh.  How domestic," Raven responded slyly, only to get Clarke to make a face.  All she knew was that by the time she woke up, there were bagels in the kitchen.

Eventually, everyone had come, the food was made and folks began to sit around the table to eat.  Cassi had somehow maneuvered to sit between Octavia and Luna, which Raven thought was hilarious.  Trust a Griffin to be drawn to a peacenik and a person who seemed primed to kick ass at any point.  

Raven herself snagged the chair next to Murphy, who only gave her a briefly surprised look before he turned his attention to Ethan as the boy clambered into the chair on his other side.

Ethan turned out to be very interested in eating crab, once he found out getting the meat out involved using the small wooden hammers.  Soon enough, the Murphys had a little assembly line going, with Ethan hammering at the claws while John cracked the body in two.  Then they would switch, so John could dig out the meat of the claws with a plastic knife and Ethan could dig out the big chunks of crab meat with his little fingers.  Only once they had a big pile of meat did they begin to eat it, dipping it in butter which Ethan dribbled all over his shirt.

After the meal, when Bellamy took Ethan upstairs to get his t-shirt soaking and give him one of Cole's to borrow for the ride home, Raven managed to catch Murphy's attention as she made her way towards the guest room.  She had only reached the door when she felt his presence behind her and they snuck into her room together.

Murphy pointedly locked the door behind them, making her chuckle.

"What is it?" he asked worriedly.  "Is Clarke going to-"

"No, she isn't," Raven hastily reassured him as she pulled him away from the door and towards the center of the room.  "I, uh."  Best to just get this out.  "I think we should just, you know, date.  Like normal people.  Openly."

When she turned around to gauge his reaction, she found him simply staring at her.

"I don't mean stop the lunchtime stuff, just, you know, add the more normal stuff," she quickly added.  

"You want to date me openly?" Murphy questioned doubtfully.

"Yes, didn't I just say so?" she replied crossly.

"Why?"

Raven felt her annoyance melt away at the befuddlement in his voice. Because she understood it.  God damn, but she understood it.  

Whatever else Finn had done over the years, he'd given her the self-confidence to feel worthy of being loved because he had loved her, once, in a way that a child loves another.  Unconditionally.  The kind of unconditional love that Raven should have known from her mother but didn't.  Maybe she and Finn had outgrown each other, but if not for him, and his parents, she'd probably feel a lot like Murphy did, who probably had only a child's distinct memory of love and nothing like it since.

"You fuck like a demon.  You are a great parent, so I know you know how to care about someone.  You're funny in that kind of mean, snarky way I like.  You're the perfect height for me to kiss you without straining.  You don't lie.  You make me feel like I'm pretty terrific, which is nice to hear from someone else from time to time," she told him instead, making sure his gaze was locked on hers.  "Why wouldn't I want to date you?"

"Because you are fantastic.  You're brilliant and gorgeous, wonderful in bed, don't put on a big show about anything, comfortable with yourself in a way I didn't know a person could be.  You could do a lot better than me."  

The way he said it made Raven sure that he'd been thinking about this too, and inwardly, she thrilled since that just confirmed to her that he wanted the same thing. So, she just had to assure him that he was her pick for good reason.  

"I don't think I could, actually, because even if there was someone richer, or smarter, or more handsome, I don't know if he'd be strong enough to take me.  You've been through some real shit and I'm not some dainty romantic girl. I don't need presents or fancy dates.  I need someone who…  If I push you, you'll push back.  I think we just fit."

Murphy opened his mouth, and though usually so expressive, he just shut it to look at her wonderingly.  Finally, he managed, "I don't really know how to date someone.  Openly."

"Yeah, I figured.  Well, I thought we could start small.  Maybe, you know, you could tell Ethan that we're seeing each other.  And if that goes well," she suggested, reaching out to drape her arms around his neck.  "I could bring some pizza over on Friday night to your place.  The three of us could eat and watch a movie."

"He wants to watch _The Hobbit_ , probably.  Is that something you'd be up for?" he warned as he gently placed his hands on her hips.

"Yeah, I'd be fine with that," Raven acknowledged.  "If that goes well, then we can move onto a public date, just you and me, maybe go back to my place afterwards.  I'm pretty sure that whole naughty schoolboy thing is going to take more time than we have during lunch anyway."

That made him chuckle.  "You've got the whole thing scripted already, don't you?"

Raven hummed in reply, shrugging.  "Maybe a little.  Unless you're not interested."

He ducked his head, admitting, "I bought a ruler, so you know, we're not defiling one of Ethan's or anything."

Soon, they were just grinning at each other, so Raven pulled him in for a long, lingering kiss.  When she stepped back, she jerked her head toward the door.  "You'd better gather your spawn.  I think I hear him running down the stairs again."

Murphy smiled and inclined his head.  "I'll let you know how it goes, when I tell him about us."  He paused, then added, "I might not 'til later in the week.  I want him focused when he starts school on Wednesday."

"I get it," she readily agreed, taking a seat on the bed, so she could watch him walk away more comfortably.  What could she say, the man had a nice ass.  "See you Tuesday."

"I'll text you later," he promised, heading for the door.  But he paused there, only to smile bemusedly at her.

"Yeah, this is happening," she told him with a smile of her own.

She kind of couldn't believe it herself.


	5. Day 68

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So what does public, official dating look like?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks to my betas, iamblakelocked and @bfl1201!

**September 9, 2016**

Raven felt decidedly stupid for being anxious as she pulled her car into a guest parking spot at Murphy's apartment complex.  It wasn't like she hadn't met Ethan before, or hadn't had a meal with him and his father before.  And a dinner of pizza and watching a movie didn't qualify as a big deal in any possible fashion.

But she hadn't seen Ethan since his father told him that he and Raven were together, which made this a first for her.  She'd never been introduced as the girlfriend of a parent before, especially not to a little kid.

She got out of the car carefully, worrying over the possibilities. Maybe Ethan would be concerned that she would steal his father's attention. Maybe-

Before she could even finish the thought, the door to Apartment 3C opened and out ran the kid himself.

"You're here!" Ethan crowed, hopping down onto the blacktop and throwing his arms around her.  

"Hey," she greeted him with a wide smile, rubbing his back briefly in a futile attempt to get him to calm down.  

"Ethan!" Murphy called from the doorway, a frown on his face.  "What did I tell about opening the door like that?"

Raven glanced at Murphy then down at the little boy who suddenly looked wary.  "Hey, I think you're not allowed to run outside like that," she told him quietly.  "Why don't you go back inside with your dad, I'll be right there, okay?"

Ethan nodded quickly and raced back into the apartment, where Murphy clearly gestured to his kid to sit down.  Raven then walked around the car to grab the pizza and breadsticks, while Murphy watched her from the doorway.

She knew that Finn would have insisted on running out, getting the food himself and ushering her into the apartment.  Wick would have asked if he could help, and when she said no, would have looked uncomfortable and fussed until she let him help.  But Murphy just waited, trusting her to tell him if she wanted help or not.

As soon as she was through the door, though, Murphy offered to take the food from her as Ethan jumped in front of her again.  "Raven!  Guess what?  I started the third grade!  And we have a reading club!  And there's another boy named Ethan in my class!  So I'm Ethan M and he's Ethan R!"

"Wow, that's great," Raven grinned down at him as she handed off the food to his dad.  "Are you friends with Ethan R?"

"No, 'cause we're in different groups!  I'm in the green group and he's in the blue group!" Ethan explained, half rolling his eyes at her question.  

Raven gave Murphy a questioning look as he set down the food on the table.  

"I think the teacher put them in different groups of ability level.  And she gives them slightly more work in the green group and she spends more time with the yellow group, if I’m understanding correctly," Murphy explained with a shrug.  "I think I'll hear more about it on Back to School night."

"That's next week!" Ethan chimed in before grabbing for her hand.  "Wanna see my room?  I've got lots of toys!"

"Uh..what about dinner?" Raven asked, even as she took the first step after the boy as he pulled on her.

"Ethan," Murphy called, to get his son's attention.  "You can show Raven your room for a minute, if she wants, then wash your hands for dinner.  Okay?"

The kid immediately looked up at Raven with wide eyes.  "Wanna see my room?" he repeated, practically quivering in excitement.

"Sure," Raven laughed in response, giving Murphy a quick smile before allowing herself to be led down the very short hallway to the bedrooms.  Both doors were open and a quick peek confirmed that Ethan had the larger bedroom.  Given the sheer amount of stuff in it, she didn't have trouble seeing why Murphy gave him the bigger room.  A glance at Murphy's room revealed something closer to a dorm room than a person's bedroom.

"See, this is my Batman hideout, and my Lego castle, and my Pokemon cards, and…"  As Ethan went on and on, Raven looked around his clean, but not very tidy room.  There were stacks of books on the shelves, plastic tubs of toys in a corner, a desk where his school bag rested, and a bed that was more or less made.  

"And look!  Daddy got me this so I can draw better stuff!"

Ethan held up a pad of graph paper, a protractor, and a set of four mechanical pencils, and Raven couldn't help her answering grin to see that Murphy had taken her advice.  "That's great.  What are you going to draw with them?"

"Cole and me, we're drawing a space station, and now, we can draw it, with this!" Ethan exclaimed.

"Ethan!  Hands," came Murphy's called reminder.  Ethan's response - a widening of the eyes, a head tilt back, mouth partially open - drew a giggle out of her, but the boy thrust the drawing materials into her hands and ran to the bathroom to obey.  

Chuckling, Raven made her way over to the desk, to set down the paper and tools, but paused when a picture, unframed and leaning against the wall, caught her eye.  One of those formal Army portraits, it showed a young woman of Asian descent, her hair kind of blondish and put up in a twist under her Army cap.  Although she bore rounded features, there was a hardness to her, a cool certainty, a take-no-shit attitude that Raven could see would be attractive to a man like Murphy.  

Recognizing that this must be Ethan's deceased mother, she reached out to pick up the set of military dog tags sitting in front of the picture, the rounded ball chain dangling from her hand.  Sure enough, the embossed metal declared this person to be _Forrester, Anya E._  

Carefully, she replaced the tags in front of the picture and walked out of the room. Ethan had already finished in the bathroom and now Murphy guided him into a chair before waving at one of the free seats in invitation to Raven.  "Wherever you want to sit."

"No, by me!" Ethan cried.

"Okay, I can do that," Raven agreed, sliding into the chair next to Ethan's while Murphy put a piece of pizza onto the plate in front of the kid.  

"Cheese please!" the kid asked for next and Murphy handed him the plastic cannister of grated cheese for the little blond to sprinkle vigorously all over his slice.

Murphy busied himself getting milk out of the fridge, but asked, "What would you like to drink, Raven?  We've got fruit punch, milk, orange juice, water, some soda and beer."

"What's the beer?" she asked, watching as Ethan reached for the pepper to add to his pizza as well.

"Pacifico."

"Yeah, I'll have one of those."  Raven eyed Ethan's plate.  "You know, I've never seen a kid ask for onions and green peppers on his pizza before.  Or put extra cheese on it.  Or pepper."

"I like the crunchy!" Ethan explained, as if this was the most natural thing in the world.  "And cheese.  And pepper!"

"But double cheese is a bit much, so he adds this kind of cheese," Murphy added. He seated himself across the table after pouring Ethan a cup of milk and getting himself and Raven their beers.  "Butt on the seat, Ethan."

The kid shifted around so he sat normally at a table, but looked over at Raven's slice first.  "You like the kind Daddy likes."

"Pepperoni is a standby, yeah," Raven agreed.  "Do you always eat your vegetables so well?"

"Definitely no.  He likes bell peppers, carrots, stuff like he says, crunches pretty well.  Broccoli, unless it's basically just warm, no.  Same with cooked carrots," Murphy listed the acceptable vegetables dryly.

"So..corn, good, creamed corn, bad?" Raven hazarded.

"Yeah, pretty much," Murphy acknowledged, even as Ethan nodded his head vigorously, his mouth full of pizza.

They let Ethan basically decide the conversation, giving each other knowing looks from time to time.  The boy talked so much, they were both able to finish two slices by the time he finished most of his own.

"I'm done," he announced, leaving the crust and a healthy section of the sauced part as well.  He pushed his plate towards Murphy, saying, "You finish it, Daddy."

"Do you want a breadstick?" Raven wondered, opening the box to show off the cheesy pieces.  Ethan's eyes went comically wide again and he nodded, so Raven gave him one of the smaller pieces.

"He's a big fan of cheese, I take it."

"Yeah. He mostly gets cheese sandwiches for lunch if I have to pack it for him, though I usually just sign him up for school lunch.  This way, he can't accidentally leave it at home or squish it or anything."

"And on weekends, I get mac and cheese at home," Ethan told her.  

"Is that your favorite dinner?" Raven wondered.

"No!"  Ethan grinned, half getting out of his chair in excitement.  "I like chicken cutlets with the noodles with the sauce.  That's my favorite!"

"Like..chicken tenders?"

"No, Daddy makes it!"  At his father's pointed direction with his hand, Ethan sat back down again.

"You cook?" Raven asked with a smile, turning her attention to Murphy.  "I thought maybe your culinary skills ended at making melts."

He shrugged, clearly uninterested in talking about his skills in the kitchen.  "Barely.  But I can bread chicken and fry it, which is what he's talking about."

"And the noodles?"

"Like those Lipton or Encor sides?  He likes the butter noodles or whatever version they have with chives or alfredo.  Nothing fancy."

Raven grinned over at Ethan who took another bite of his cheesy bread.  "So I'm getting that you're a cheese and noodle kind of kid."

"How come you wanna know so much about what I like to eat?"  His mouth wasn't exactly empty, but Raven got the gist of the question.

When Ethan lifted his cup carefully to take a sip, Raven looked meaningfully at his father.  "Did you..not tell him?" she asked, stunned.  He had said he wouldn't until "later" in the week, but she assumed he would before she came over.

"I told him," Murphy defended himself.  "That's why he was watching at the window, waiting for you to come."

"Not that I was coming, but that we are..uh."  She waved between the two of them.  "Together."

"I know you're Daddy's girlfriend!" Ethan declared, picking up on their conversation immediately.  He grinned at her.  "Because you're kind and smart and pretty.  I know all about girlfriends!"

While Raven couldn't help the laugh that escaped at the knowing way Ethan spoke, Murphy just shook his head.  "Apparently, Blake's been talking about this stuff.  Plus he's watching more Disney Channel when he's over there, because Cole and Cassidy watch it, and there's a lot of boyfriend girlfriend nonsense on it."

"Okay, well," Raven began, still chuckling.  "If I'm your dad's girlfriend, then that means I'm going to be around you a lot more often, so I should know what you will and won't eat."

"You can just ask me.  I'll tell you," Ethan responded, dropping the last bite of his breadstick on a napkin.  "Can we have popcorn when we watch the movie?"

Murphy chewed his bite of Ethan's leftover crust and looked at Raven.  "Sure.  Do you want some too?"

"I could eat some," Raven offered before taking a sip of her beer.

"Then we'll make two bags.  Ethan and I can kill a single bag ourselves."

"I can do that by myself," she agreed, winking at Ethan who giggled.

It took them half an hour, but they managed to get themselves onto the couch with two bowls of popcorn, one liberally sprinkled with parmesan cheese at Ethan's request.  Murphy got the movie started while the boy settled between the two adults on the couch.  He kept up a running commentary at first, but subsided once all of the dwarves had gathered in Bilbo's home and ate all of his food.  

Every so often, Raven would look over at the two of them, Murphy leaning comfortable into the corner of the couch, an arm slung over the back, Ethan slumped so that he could only just see over the bowl in his lap.  Once in awhile, she'd find Murphy looking back at her, a bemused expression on his face, as if he couldn't quite believe she'd given up her Friday night to watch a movie with him and his son.

Ethan fell asleep sometime when Bilbo and the dwarves were in the mountain, huddled together and sleeping themselves.  It took Murphy a few minutes to figure this out, but he paused the movie as soon as he did.

"Uh, do you want to finish it, or can I just keep it here for him until tomorrow?" he asked, setting down the remote and then gently lifting his prone son up in his arms.  He carefully arranged his son's head so that it wasn't hanging and walked him to his room.

Raven followed, watching curiously from the doorway as Murphy laid the boy down on his bed.  He stripped him out of his shoes and socks, as well as as his shorts, then tucked him under his cover.  

She turned away, stumping back to the dining table as she thought about the realities of dating a single father.  Almost every night of Murphy's life would be something like this.  Making Ethan dinner, entertaining him for a bit, maybe getting him a bath or something, and getting him to bed.  If she and Murphy went out, just by themselves, it would likely be no more than a couple of times a month.  

And that sounded...good.

When she and Wick were together, his idea for their future had been something like this.  A home, a kid, or two, staying in most nights.  It sounded like a nightmare at the time.

Now, she realized, gripping the back of a chair, it only became a nightmare when you were next to the wrong person.

"Having second thoughts?" Murphy inquired and she turned to find him leaning against the wall.

"No," she answered honestly.  "I'm surprisingly okay with your boring life.  I kinda want in."

Murphy raised a brow at that, but his mouth twisted into his usual smirk.  "You think this is boring?  Wait 'til you're watching a cartoon movie for the seventh time while Ethan narrates it for you."

Raven laughed, clapping a hand over her mouth so she didn't make too much noise with the kid sleeping in the other room.  "Oh my god, that sounds horrible...and I still want to see it.  What's wrong with me?"

He grinned at her, closing the distance between them and wrapping his arms around her.  "I think you like him.  And me.  We do the worst shit for people we like."

Still floating in that giddy feeling, she giggled into his shoulder for a moment, but then placed a kiss on his cheek.  "Thanks for letting me in," she added.  She knew how hard it could be from personal experience.

"Yeah, well, when a gorgeous genius of a woman is like, 'I want to spend my time with you,' I'm not dumb enough to say no," Murphy admitted quietly.

"Ugh," Raven said as she blew out a breath, uneasy with the emotional turn the evening had taken.  "We're disgusting.  Wanna make out on the couch?"

"I have a bed here, actually.  Probably more comfortable.  You could even sleep over, if you want."

She grinned before planting a kiss on him that he immediately deepened, licking into her mouth and cupping the back of her head with his hand to keep her close.  As her hand dipped underneath the hem of his shirt to stroke the lean muscle of his back in encouragement, he began to step backwards, slowly, carefully leading them to his own bedroom.

They were barely through the bedroom door before she coaxed his shirt off of him, breaking their kiss only to get the cloth over his head before she tossed it away.  Then his lips were on her again, sucking a hot mark into her neck that sent a wave of sharp arousal throughout her body and between her legs.  Her hands tugged at his belt and shorts impatiently, the metal clasp clanking loudly in the quiet of the room, over her harsh breathing and the wet sweep of his mouth on her heated skin.

As soon as his shorts fell to the floor, he reached down to stay her hand with one of his, murmuring into the curve of her body, "You too."

Smirking above his head, she raked her hand over his back as she stepped away from him.  When he lifted his head, she thrilled to see his eyes dark with lust and she wasted little time in peeling off her tank top and shimmying out of her own shorts.  When she sat down on the bed heavily, she made quick work of her brace, letting it fall with a thump to the floor as she eased back on the bed and crooked her finger at him.

Murphy practically launched after her, crawling over her and crowding her back against the mattress.  "So fucking sexy," he groaned, pressing himself directly against her core after she opened her in legs in invitation.  

Even through their underwear, the pressure and the heat of his length on her cleft made her moan.  Eagerly wrapping her good leg around his hip, she felt the first clench of her core as she rubbed herself against him.

"First fast," she told him breathlessly as his head dipped to lip at the swell of her breast.  "Then really really slow." The thought of being able to take their time with each other practically had her moaning on its own, but first, she had to get off and she had to get off now.

He made no reply, mouth too occupied and hands ghosting up her sides until his fingers dug underneath the edge of her bra-

The door clicked shut abruptly.

Murphy pulled back from her suddenly, turning to look over his shoulder only to find the door closed.  He practically fell off the bed in his hurry to rush to the door, opening it cautiously and peering into the hall.  After another heartbeat, he disappeared into the hallway and she could faintly make out the sound of Ethan's door opening as he went to check on his son.

Her own heart hammered noisily in her chest as her head fell back, the tension of the moment gone.  Ethan probably hadn't heard a thing, was probably still sleeping in his bed.  She closed her eyes, trying to recapture that frenetic moment of excitement, imagining Murphy's hands back on her, his mouth at her breast…

"He's asleep," Murphy confirmed as he walked back into the room, carefully closing the door behind him.  

Raven beamed at him, beckoning him to rejoin her.  "That's good."

Almost hesitantly, he resumed his place over her on the bed, slowly pressing his body down against hers so that she squirmed with anticipation, trying to get him to hurry up.  As soon as his lips were close, she surged up, demanding another kiss to get her juices flowing again.

But there was something different about the way he kissed her, unsure, almost...weak.  It lasted for barely two seconds before he pulled back and peered down at her regretfully.

"I..we can't...not tonight," he tried to explain, a bit breathless.

Raven pushed up on her elbows, staring at him and trying to keep her libido in check, even though the man who'd been stoking her desire a minute ago was still pressed between her legs.  Almost without thought, she rubbed herself against him again, watching as his head dipped with the strain of keeping them apart.

"Doesn't feel like you can't," she informed him archly.

"I don't want Ethan to wake up," Murphy replied, pulling himself further away from her to kneel back on his heels.  "Or if he does get up, he might need something.  I can't…"

"We have before, with Ethan in the house," Raven replied incredulously, recalling their hook-ups at the Griffins'.  "What's different now?"

"We're the only adults here now.  If he needs something, we..I, have to be ready."

"Uh, we could just stop, if he needed something."  She sat up completely.  "Like we did when Clarke walked in on us."

"No!  That's different, it's-"  Murphy struggled to find the words, a pained expression taking over his face.  

As he fought to articulate what prevented him from having sex, Raven understood that whatever the issue was, the end result is that he didn't want to sleep with her right now.

And well, that was kind of that.

So she just nodded.  "Look," she began, interrupting him.  "If you're not comfortable, that's okay.  We don't have to have sex."  Then she chuckled at the irony of it all, about their relationship, which began with fucking, had moved definitively into a phase where they didn't need to have sex every time they were together.  

Yeah, she might be aroused, and yes, Murphy was literally between her legs, but she could control herself.  It wasn't like he was saying no forever.  Hell, he'd fucked her just yesterday, going down on her for fifteen minutes before throwing her legs over his shoulders and slamming into her over and over, fingers vibrating over her clit, forcing another high-throated orgasm out of her before he finally came himself inside of her.

Raven shook her head.  Thinking about that wasn't going to help herself calm down right now.

He swallowed, relief relaxing his features.  "Thanks."

"You don't have to thank me.  I know it's hard for you to conceive of this, but I can, in fact, resist your charms for a night," she teased him, lifting her good leg to poke him in the side with a toe.  

As much as she didn't want to resist, she wanted him to be completely comfortable with her.

He scoffed, then shook his head.  "Do you still want to spend the night?"

"Well, I have no stuff here, and since we're very concerned about what Ethan might see, you're going to have to give me something to sleep in."  Raven smirked at him, glancing down at herself, now only clad in her bra and underwear.

"Yeah, no problem," he answered, giving her a smile.  "T-shirt and boxers okay?"

"The loose kind, right?  Not those boxer briefs you wear."

"Yeah, I got a couple of loose boxers," he confirmed, scrambling off the bed and heading to the bureau.

"And like a thin t-shirt, not heavy cotton."  When he gave her a look, she shrugged.  "I like what I like."

"I noticed."  Murphy grinned and pulled open a drawer, while she eased off the bed slowly.  While he rifled around inside of it, she crept up behind him to see what options were available.  

"Are these all your old Army shirts?" she asked, surprised.

"Pretty much the oldest stuff I have, the thinnest," he agreed, pulling out a dun colored t-shirt and offering it over.  "Is this acceptable for you?"

She rubbed the material between two fingers and nodded as she took the shirt from him to drape over her shoulder.  "That works.  Now comfortable boxers."

Murphy closed the one drawer and then opened another drawer above it, reaching into the back to pull out a pair of grey and black plaid boxers.  "This okay?" he asked, though Raven was immediately distracted by a metallic clinking.

"What's that?"

He shrugged, grabbing something in his fist and then pouring a set of dog tags into her hand.  "My old tags," he answered gruffly, his mood abruptly shifting.  "I gave Anya's to Ethan a couple of years ago.  Figure he might want these some day too."     

As if annoyed by his own sentimentality, Murphy shoved the drawer closed and sat down again on the bed, a dark expression on his face.

Raven knew a little about his service, how he'd met his friends there, how it'd been an escape from his previous life, how he'd met Anya, and gotten injured, but the tension that came into his frame at touching something from his Army days took her by surprise.  She wanted to ask about it, but recognized his posture, the way it signaled the pain of his past and the defensiveness that would close down any attempt to talk.

She recognized herself in it.

So she decided to change the subject, a little, to give him an out.  Because she also knew that he'd talk about that stuff if and when he was ready to talk about it.  She wasn't his therapist, she was his girlfriend, and her only job here was to be supportive.  Murphy clearly had his life together, knew how to deal with the shit of his past emotionally, and it would be entirely up to him how much he wanted to share that with Raven.

Just as she would decide if and when she'd talk about all the details of the crap she'd been through.

Raven ran her thumb over the raised lettering on the dog tags.   _Murphy, John J._  It also listed his Social Security number, his blood type, O positive, and his religion, which apparently was none.

"What's the J stand for, your middle name?" she wondered, looking up at him.

"James," he admitted.

"Your name is John James Murphy?" she asked, amused at the very plainness of it all.

"The Fourth," he grudgingly admitted, making her eyebrows raise.  "It's a family name.  I'm John James Murphy the Fourth.  There was John, then Jayjay, then Jack, and now me."

"John again," Raven concluded with a smile.  "You didn't want to continue it for Ethan?"

Murphy shrugged.  "Anya picked his name.  Part of the deal we'd worked out was if he was going to be a Murphy, which was more important to me, she got to pick the first name.  Forrester is her last name, so it's his middle name," he explained.

"Did you want him to be a Fifth?" she wondered as she put the tags on the top of his bureau, then went to sit beside him, the borrowed clothing still clutched in his hand.

"I.."  Murphy made a face.  "I wanted him to have my dad's name.  Jack.  So yeah, I think so, but I would've called him Jack.  But Ethan's a good name.  I'm fine with it."

"Maybe you'll have another someday.  I mean, I know you said you don't want another, but I don't know, maybe you'll change your mind.  Then you can call that one John Murphy the Fifth," Raven suggested.

"I'm not having another one," Murphy denied firmly.  At her look, he added, "The stuff about trying to keep up with another one of him, not being able to afford it, that's all true.  But I don't have this...I don't know, drive to have kids or anything.  And if I did have another, there's a chance he could be me.  Just..normal.  And maybe he'd feel bad because he wasn't a genius like his brother.  Or maybe Ethan would feel like an oddball because he wasn't like me and the other one.  I don't know.  There's too much potential for it to be a disaster."

He took a breath.  "So, uh, if you're thinking long term with me, really.  Um, I'm done having kids.  If that's like a thing for you, you should know."

Raven just smiled at him, leaning over to touch her shoulder with his companionably. "Did you ever see that movie, _Idiocracy_?  About the average guy who gets frozen and when he wakes up, everyone's an idiot and the country's a mess?  And they say how they got there was because the stupid people had tons of kids and smart ones would only have one?"

Murphy looked confused, but nodded.  "Yeah, it's pretty funny."

"Well that whole...biological imperative for smart people to have kids so the human race isn't overpopulated with idiots...that's kind of the only reason I would want kids.  To pass on the genes," Raven admitted.  "And I could probably do that by donating eggs if I was really serious about it.  So no, you not wanting any more kids isn't like a dealbreaker for me."

The smile he gave her was small, but genuine.  "What are your dealbreakers then?"

"Lying, cheating, hard drug use, abuse and extreme crime?  Not like, fudging your taxes, but like, murder and that stuff.  But not justifiable murder.  If someone tried to hurt Ethan and you killed that guy, completely fine," Raven described, watching as his grin grew bigger.

"What about you?" she asked, mirroring his expression.  "Any dealbreakers?"

"I think you pretty much listed it all out," he agreed.  "Because, you know...betrayal, that's the big thing with me.  I can't."  He straightened some, looking her in the eye.  "I won't deal with that, won't let it near my son."

God, it was nice being on the same wavelength with someone else.  

Raven placed a hand on his cheek as she leaned in to give him a kiss, one that got her blood flowing all over again.  When his tongue swiped into her mouth, she moaned and her hand slid to his shoulder so she could get a grip.

"Are you sure I can't tempt you into some sex?" she murmured when she pulled back, only to press another kiss to the corner of his mouth.

Murphy closed his eyes briefly, reaching up to stroke her hair comfortingly.  "You can always tempt me," he answered roughly.  "But...not now."  

There was more pleading in his voice than anything else, but Raven nodded.  Sighing as she pulled back, she reached for his hand, interlacing their fingers together.  "Okay.  Worth a shot though.  I kinda like having sex with you."

He laughed and squeezed her hand.  "You're really good at it yourself."

"Anything else we should talk about, dating-wise?" she wondered, since they weren't going to get distracted by sex.  They hadn't really talked turkey, as it were, about their relationship during the week, too focused on boning each other during the couple of lunches they had together.

"You joked about the boring stuff, earlier, but uh, yeah, that's kind of what it's going to be like.  I can't go out a lot with you, certainly not fancy stuff," Murphy spelled it out.

"Yeah, because I'm a crazy party animal who needs expensive dates," she replied sarcastically.  "I know, I'm cool with it.  I figure if we go out twice a month just the two of us, that'd be a good month, but most of the time, you're going to be with your kid.  Or you'll be at guys' night, and maybe, you know, you'll let me watch him if you can't get a babysitter."

He huffed incredulously.  "You're not going to make a thing about me keeping that?  I thought girls hated that kind of stuff."

Raven shoved his shoulder.  "I'm not a girl worried you're going to drink yourself to death or get a wandering eye or some other shit.  You're going out to eat and have a beer or two with your friends, guys who might as well be your brothers.  It's practically a family gathering.  And those guys are like…"  She laughed.  "Well, you're the worst of the three, so yeah, they can only pull you into better behavior," she teased.

He pushed her back, though not hard, and grinned.  "I'm still going to think other women are hot."

"Yeah, no duh.  I'm not about to go blind, deaf and dumb as to the objective hotness of other men either."  Raven glanced down at her lap, at his clothing she would wear to sleep.  "I just think your subjective hotness is much greater."

"This is what dating a genius is like, right?  Talking about objective and subjective hotness?" he mused, and when she peeked at him, he was smiling fondly.

"Dating a genius, raising a genius.  You ever think that maybe you're pretty fucking smart yourself?" she asked pointedly.

"Not like that," Murphy denied with a shake of his head.  "It's..you know that saying, the difference between bad and good is a mile, but like, between good and great is an inch?  I'm smart, I know that, intelligent, clever, whatever.  But I don't see things the way Ethan does, the way you do."

"You don't have to," Raven replied simply.  "Just appreciate us."

He didn't even bother to reply, just tilting his head in that Murphy way of his that indicated he agreed.  But then he cleared his throat, and ventured, "Uh, fancy dates not being a thing and all, I don't suppose you have an interest in going to _Much Ado About Nothing_ at the theater with me next Saturday?"

She blinked, leaning away from him.  Nothing he could've said would have surprised her more than Murphy inviting her to a Shakespearean play.  "You have theater tickets?"

"Miller gave them to me," Murphy defended himself, drawing a knowing chuckle out of her.  "But Shakespeare's not bad.  I like the comedies better than the tragedies, because who the fuck needs to see more tragedy in life, but yeah, I like most of his stuff."

Raven smirked at him, digging the idea of going to someplace nice with Murphy.  "You'll wear a suit?"

Murphy rolled his eyes but nodded.  "Yeah, I have a suit, I'll wear it.  What about you?  Got a formal tank top?" he teased in return.

"Actually," she began haughtily.  "I have a lot of very nice dresses.  Because I like dresses.  Just..not wearing them all that much."  She gestured to her bad leg.  "The brace kind of ruins the lines and stuff."

"I can't see how, since you're beautiful.  I know we aren't going to go out much, but wear whatever the fuck you feel like.  If you want to wear it, wear it.  And if you want to wear it out.."  He took a breath.  "We'll find places to wear your fancy dresses out."

"I bet you we can convince Clarke to host a fancy New Year's Eve party.  That way we can get dressed up but not spend like crazy," Raven ventured thoughtfully, feeling content at the easy way he threw compliments her way.

"Heh, yeah.  Blake'll show off his cooking, Miller and Bryan will get creative with the cocktails-"

"Not to mention all the other holidays," she continued, suddenly recalling they were on the verge of the holiday season.  "Thanksgiving, Christmas...I'm pretty much just planning to crash the Griffins, like I do every year."

"Holiday parties.  Jaha warned me he does a very nice dinner for everyone and we're expected to bring our, you know, significant others."

"Oh god.  I met Wells' dad once.  I'm really glad you've got a better job, but total creep vibe," she admitted with a shudder.

He laughed at that.  "Completely agree.  But it's a good job, good health care plan, hours work for me and Ethan."  He looked around the room, spying his clock by the bedside.  "So, it's not that late and I'm guessing you're not exactly sleepy.  Uh, want to watch TV or a different movie or-"

"I'm okay with just talking.  I can get changed and we can just relax here."  If they were going to be together, Raven had to know if she would want to be around him, not just his kid.  Well, around him when sex wasn't on the table.  Which she knew she did, but having a conversation with him for more than a few minutes would help her to really know where this was headed.

Which is what they did, both getting into their sleeping clothes - his t-shirt and boxers for her, a t-shirt and old, but clean gym shorts for him - and crawling into bed.  They talked about various topics, just shows and movies they liked, how many people they'd each slept with, Raven's seven looking meager compared to Murphy's twenty-eight, how generally annoying people were, and, of course, Ethan.  By the time Raven closed her eyes, facing Murphy who mirrored her position on the bed, she had pretty well decided that yes, she was definitely in this for the long term.

And she didn't feel anxious at all about that.

 

* * *

 

 

When Murphy opened his eyes, he needed a moment to figure out why he felt so discombobulated.  After a few seconds, he realized that the sunlight hitting the wall was in a different part of the room than it normally was when he woke up.

Then he realized that he had just woken up, by himself.  Which was another oddity.  Normally, it took the alarm going off or his son wandering in, or calling for him, to get him to open his eyes.  

He turned his head, to eye the time, then sat bolt upright when his mind finally processed all the information.  It was past ten in the morning, Raven had slept over but was not in bed with him, and he could hear voices talking out in the living room.

Murphy bolted from the bed, nearly tripping on a sheet that got tangled around his foot.  As a result, he lurched from the bedroom into the hallway, finally turning a corner and then stopping, taking in the scene before him.

Raven, still in his clothes, sat behind the coffee table with Ethan, himself dressed in yesterday's clothes, while _Robin Hood_ , an old Disney favorite of his son's played on the TV.  The remains of breakfast - cereal it seemed - sat abandoned on a corner while they loaded up the boy's catapult with some tightly crumpled paper at one end of the table.  A lightly stacked set of Legos on the table's far edge appeared to be their target.  After a moment, Raven gave the kid a nod and he fired the shot, then jumped around triumphantly when the wall went crashing over.

His presence became noticeable about that time, as Ethan turned around and ran over to him.  "Daddy!  Raven helped me make the catapult throw things _farther_!"

"Yeah, I see that," Murphy told him, voice still itchy with sleep.  He cleared his throat, nodding towards the bowls.  "I see you had breakfast.  Reese's?"

"He said he was allowed on weekends," Raven chimed in, slowly getting her legs out from under the table and getting to her feet.  Murphy wanted to reach out to give her a hand, but didn't think she'd like the offer much.  If she needed something, she'd say something.

"I am!" Ethan confirmed.  "Now that you're up we can finish watching the movie!"

Murphy put a calming hand on Ethan's head, which did very little as the boy wiggled out of his reach and ran back to Raven.  "She stayed over 'cause she wanted to finish it," he continued excitedly.

"Yep, that's what I said," Raven confirmed, giving Murphy a smirk as she finally levered herself back onto the couch.  

"Yeah, well, uh, give me a few minutes to go to the bathroom, all that stuff, and we can start the movie, okay?"

Ethan gave his enthusiastic approval, already turning his attention back to the catapult.  Murphy shuffled to the bathroom, and afterwards, the kitchen, scourging up a bowl and the rest of the cereal for himself.  As he was pouring the milk, Raven wandered over and leaned against the opposite counter.

"When he came into the bedroom, it was about 8 o'clock.  I figured you could use a day to sleep in a little."

Murphy took a bite of the cereal, to give himself time to phrase his question properly.  When he swallowed, he asked, "How'd he react, seeing you in my bed?"

"He was really sweet," she replied and when he looked over at her, she smiled at the memory.  "He oh-so-gently touched my arm to wake me up and whispered, 'Did you stay to watch the movie?'" she mimicked his voice.  "I told him we decided to wait for him and fell asleep.  He seemed fine with that.  So I got us some cereal and he wanted to show me one of his favorite movies and how his catapult worked and, you know, waited for you to get up."

He nodded, then finally managed a smile.  "Thanks.  I..well, thanks," he mumbled, dipping his spoon back into the bowl.

"No problem."  She walked over to stand by him and adding lightly, "Just so you know, you don't seem to have any coffee."

He laughed.  "I don't drink it, don't have it.  I don't even have a coffee pot."  It hadn't even  occurred to him that she might want coffee in the morning, but then, he was a pretty crap host.

"What?"  Her face fell.  "I just thought..maybe you put it away or something because you don't have a lot of counter space."  She sighed, shaking her head.  "How'd you get through the Army without coffee?"

"I don't like it?  Plenty of other ways to caffeinate if you need it."  Murphy glanced at the time, then offered, "Want me to run out to get some for you?  I could pick up donuts or something too."  Although he didn't want to encourage most people to come over or stay over, Raven was another story.  

"Nah, I'll just eat like seven donuts and Ethan will eat two and run around us like the roadrunner," Raven predicted with a shake of her head.  "But thanks for asking.  I'll just-" She sucked in a breath.  "-rough it."  

That she seemed ready to go without what she considered a staple to hang out with them pretty much convinced him, after last night, that he wanted her around for the long haul.

Still, she gave him a good opening.

"First world problems," he teased, only to get her finger poking into his side.

"I'm just saying, if this is going to be a thing, maybe you could warn a girl that you're completely unprepared for guests," she replied with a wide grin.

"You're not going to demand I keep coffee in the apartment for you?"

Raven laughed.  "Oh, honey," she said condescendingly, reaching out to brush his cheek.  "If you don't know anything about coffee, you're just going to buy the wrong one and make a mess.  I'll handle my coffee needs, don't you worry."

"I won't," he answered sardonically, getting another chuckle out of her.

But he would clear a space in the kitchen for her to keep that stuff.

Watching as Ethan stacked the Legos again into another target, he added, "You're really great with him."

"More like he's great.  Full stop," Raven answered, smiling.  "That's on you, you know.  You've given him everything he needs to be excited about life.  Not scared."

Her wistful tone, so familiar to him, gave him pause.  So he ate another bite of his cereal before responding.

"You're right, you know.  About my killing anyone who tried to harm him."  His tone might have been mild, but the sentiment decidedly was not.

A fact she seemed to recognize, because she just nodded solemnly.  She let the moment hang between them before she added, "I slept pretty well."

"Yeah, well, I bought one of those foam topper things and it helps."  At her look, since she'd spent so much of last night teasing him about his dorm room-like bedroom, he grinned.  "What, I'm not opposed to spending some money on myself.  Just, you know, I do it strategically."

She laughed, then stole one of the pieces of cereal from his bowl.  "Finish up or join us in the living room, will you?"  she asked as she popped the little ball in her mouth.

Watching the rest of the first _Hobbit_ movie was pretty much a repeat of the night before, except this time, Murphy half-reclined on the couch while Raven sat on a pillow on the floor next to Ethan so they could put together one of the thousand piece puzzles Ethan had gotten for his birthday but hadn't yet put together.  Puzzles were one of the ways he could get Ethan to be somewhat quieter during a movie or show, giving his mind enough to keep occupied.

Meanwhile, Murphy's mind was occupied by thoughts of Raven.  She said she wanted in, seemed happy enough to have the kid around and not at all upset that he was Murphy's priority.  She'd backed off when he'd frozen up the night before, which made her the first woman in his life not to dump him or freak out when he declined sex.  She didn't expect him to shower her with attention and gifts, just let her in and hang out.

So, basically, she was a keeper.  Not that he didn't know that before, but now, he _felt_ it.

"Can we watch the next one now?" Ethan asked as soon as the credits began to roll.

"I don't know, buddy.  I think maybe Raven might want to do something else.  Or go home."  Murphy hastily sat up, wincing at his words.  "Not that I'm kicking you out, Raven."  But he didn't want to assume she was interested in hanging out with him and his kid all the time.

For now.  Later, well...

"Nah, I don't feel kicked out," she assured him, slowly getting to her feet again.  "But I do feel like getting a shower and getting clean clothes, and that's all back at my place," she explained to Ethan.

His son's face immediately fell.  "Maybe you could get your stuff and come back and sleep over again?"

"Ethan," Murphy began, but Raven cut him off.

"I'd love to come back, but some other time, okay?  Don't worry.  Your dad and I will arrange something soon," she reassured the boy.

He still looked disappointed when she went into Murphy's room to get changed and looked at his father pleadingly.

"Can't she just stay?"

Murphy motioned Ethan over, putting his hands on his shoulders.  "She's got other things to do and we do too.  Including you getting a bath.  Do you think you want Raven here for that?"

Ethan's nose wrinkled and he shifted uneasily.  "She can wait here when I get my bath," he informed Murphy logically.

He knew he shouldn't smile at that, but Murphy did anyway, getting a matching grin out of his son.  "Okay, that makes sense.  But you know, she can't stay all the time.  She's got her own job and apartment."

"But she's your girlfriend!  She should want to stay all the time!" Ethan argued next, getting that pinched look that signaled the beginning of what best could be called an agitation fit.

Sometimes, when he was anxious or worried or just too excited and unable to calm down, Ethan would get almost manic.  Talking faster than normal, unable to focus, and quite stressed out, Murphy thought it was his son's way of working through his anxiety.  But it was very hard to keep up with and always made the kid irritable afterward.

"Hey," Murphy began, pulling his son into his lap.  "Yes, Raven is my girlfriend.  And yes, she's going to be here a lot.  I know you like her.  I'm glad you like her.  But she's going to be around a lot more, I promise.  Just because she's going home now doesn't mean it's going to be a long time before she comes back."

"Uncle Bellamy and Uncle Nathan and Uncle Bryan don't come over a lot anymore," Ethan told him quietly and Murphy began to understand a little.

"Well, you see Uncle Bellamy all the time now, at the Griffins, after he picks you up at school.  And we mostly go to Uncle Nathan and Uncle Bryan's house because it's bigger and they like to cook and you like to play with their dog, Empress, right?"

Ethan nodded solemnly.

"But you still see them.  I know you're excited to have a guest here though and maybe, maybe it's time you had a friend of your own over some day to play.  Like someone from class."

This was something Murphy tried hard to avoid.  There weren't a lot of children living in their apartment complex, which mostly catered to divorcees trying to stay in the same school district.  Almost none of the kids lived full-time in the tiny apartments, instead mostly living in much larger, much nicer homes.  Although Murphy had successfully shielded Ethan from the stigma of being the "poor" kid in a rich school district, partially by not letting many people over, it was maybe time to allow some guests and let Ethan not always be the kid visiting other people's houses.

Murphy had been somewhat nervous just with Raven coming over.  Even though she'd grown up like he had, she was basically rich now, lived in a crazy fancy apartment and was best friends with a woman who owned a mansion.  He hadn't been sure how interested she'd remain in him after she saw his crappy little apartment.

But she hadn't batted an eye at the place, or the fact that their TV wasn't the latest state-of-the-art thing or that the kitchen was the size of a closet.  The only thing she'd said about the whole place was when she teased him for have no decorations in his bedroom at all.  Which, duh, who needs shit on the walls?  It wasn't his thing, even if he did have the extra money to waste on it.

"Really?"  Ethan asked, grinning at the idea.  "Can we build a fort and sleep in it?"

"Yeah, really.  And forts are okay too," Murphy allowed.  "You figure out who you want to invite and let me know and I'll talk to their parents, okay?"

"Like Cole?"

Murphy forced a smile.  "Yeah, like Cole.  But maybe other people, like from your class, too?"  Maybe he'd be lucky and Ethan would make another best friend during the year.  Not that Cole was a bad kid, but Murphy had a feeling that kid would be trouble eventually.  He didn't envy Blake having to deal with him as he got older either.

The door to his room opened loudly and Raven stepped out.  "I put the clothes I borrowed on the bed.  Thanks for letting me use them," she informed him, smiling a little to find Ethan in his lap.

"No problem," he answered, watching as Ethan clambered down and ran over to her.

"Guess what?  Daddy says I can have a friend over and make a fort!"

"Not today, but soon," Murphy reminded him as he got to his feet.

"Sounds awesome," Raven approved, walking over to grab her bag.  She made sure her phone was inside before pulling out her keys and heading for the door.

Murphy hurried to get to the door first, opening it for her, which earned him a mocking smirk from her at his rare display of manners.  He just half-smiled in reply, adding, "Thanks for feeding us last night.  And hanging out with Ethan this morning."

"It was fun!" Ethan chimed in, running over.

"Yeah, it was," Raven agreed.  "Come on, Murphling, give me a hug."

Ethan leaped at the chance to give her a hug, crowded around her.  "You're going to come back soon?"

"Yep," she confirmed, wrapping an arm around him.  "You know why?"

"Because you're my daddy's girlfriend."

Murphy laughed at that, but grinned wider at Raven's reply.

"Well, that and I want to see you too.  Is that okay?"

Ethan nodded and beamed up at her.  "Yes!"

"Okay, Murphling.  Be good for your dad."

"I will!" Ethan answered, stepping back to Murphy's side.

Raven smiled at Murphy, asking slyly, "Are we going to shake hands goodbye, or what?"

Murphy smirked at her and looked down at his son.  "Hey, kiddo.  I'm going to kiss her right now."

Ethan made a face and ran back to his puzzle in the living room while Raven laughed.

"Wow, that got him going."

"Again, he's still six," Murphy reminded her before leaning over for a quick kiss.  "We still on for Monday?" he asked quietly, so the munchkin wouldn't overhear him.

Raven nodded quickly.  "Yeah, unless something changes for work."  She added a quick smile before turning and heading for her car.  

He leaned against the doorjamb, watching her get into her car and drive away.  Their date, as much as it was a date, had gone really well.  As a test, both of their ability to stand each other in a non-sexual way, and of Ethan's tolerance for them being together, Murphy could say that it went extremely well, actually.

And that maybe, he wasn't quite so crazy to be thinking about the long-term with Raven already.

So when he got the text from Blake that afternoon while Ethan watched _Iron Man 2_ again and continued to work on his puzzle, he couldn't help but smile as he typed out his own reply.

**Blake:**   _FYI, I'm with Clarke now._

_Ok.  FYI, I'm with the woman I was sleeping with._

_It's Raven._

When he recalled what would be the natural consequence of his friend dating Raven's friend, he fired off another text quickly.

_We're not double-dating._

But it was nice to see he wasn't the only one finally moving on with his life.  It had been so annoying, watching Blake dance around his feelings for the blonde doctor with all the kids.  She was practically a dream come true for the guy, what with being bossy and mouthy and stacked and having a whole bunch of kids for him to take care of.  

He wasted no time giving Raven the intel either, since he knew she was pretty annoyed at how her friend had been dragging her feet about the whole affair.

_Hey, Blake's with your friend officially._

**Raven:** _Took them long enough!_

**Raven:** _Ha, they were probably finally banging_

_when we were probably finally not banging!_

Before he could reply, his phone buzzed with another text.

**Miller:**     _I fucking knew it!  Bryan says you're both_

_bringing your ladies for dinner sometime soon._

**Blake:** _It's going to be hard to arrange. Clarke's_

_schedule is messed up.  Also, congrats Murphy._

_E must be very excited._

Murphy winced, already envisioning a bunch of dinners of the two or three couples together like fucking hipsters or a goddamn rom-com.  Fuck no.

_You guys are my regular babysitters so_

_probably can't._

_Ethan's pretty happy, yeah._

Huge understatement, of course, but Murphy glanced up at his son, who was busy trying to find the match for a puzzle piece in his hand.  He'd settled down considerably after Raven left, mollified with the prospects of Raven and others coming to visit soon.  Which, speaking of.

_FYI, Bryan and Miller want us and Blake and_

_your friend over for dinner soon.  I said no, not_

_into double-dating stuff._

**Raven:** _Free dinner with people who aren't_

_assholes?  Come on, we're totally doing that._

Murphy grimaced but wryly nodded.  She did have a point.  And maybe they could use the same babysitter, so he could save a little money that way too.

**Miller:**   _Just do it._

Of course, Miller didn't have to be a jerk about it.

_FML am told we are double-dating._

**Blake:** _Relax, seriously.  Clarke's schedule_

_isn't going to allow her to do all these things._

_We haven't even been able to plan a date for_

_ourselves yet._

 Which, honestly, was a relief.  Murphy wanted to spend some more time with Raven one on one before they dived into doing couple things with others.  

_Good._

**Blake:**   _You're an asshole._

**Miller:**  Y _ou're an asshole._

He smirked at his phone, glad to know his reputation hadn't been completely ruined.  Of course, though, Blake had to get all sappy on him, sending him a private text.

   

**Blake:**   _How'd we end up with these amazing women?_

It was a good question, but ultimately, Murphy didn't really care about the answer.  He was with Raven, who his son already loved and, well, if he was being honest, he was pretty much there too.  Now he just needed to convince her that she should feel the same way about them.

Given how the previous day had gone, he liked his chances.

_Fuck if I know.  Gonna try not to fuck it up._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end folks, except for an epilogue that I'm going to publish in two days. I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Day 118

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to celebrate Halloween...and realize something new.

**October 29, 2016**

  
  


"Murphling, hold still!" Raven directed, laughing a little at the squirming child in front of her in the parking lot.  "I can't get this to sit right until you stop wiggling."

Ethan took a deep breath to steady himself and did his best to stop moving.  "Okay," he told her, then ruined it all by twisting his neck to grin back up at her.

"You keep doing that, you're going to have crooked wings," she warned him, but her smile took all the sting out of her words.

"I'll be good!" he promised, then did his best to freeze in place.

Raven tore the Velcro and tried again to get the pieces aligned correctly.  After perhaps a minute, she stepped back to judge the result.  "I think it's good," she pronounced.  "Just remember to be careful when you're running around with them, don't smack into people."

"Can I have my bow and arrows now?" 

"Yeah, here you go," Murphy answered, carefully draping the quiver they'd made out of a brown paper covered Pringles can and some braided twine diagonally over the boy's torso.  They'd flat out bought him a tiny little bow, tunic, and wings from the pop-up costume shop, though Bellamy had added the Velcro to the back of the wings and the tunic so they'd stay on Ethan better than elastic bands.

"He looks like a pretty good Cupid," Raven approved.

"Eros.  We're Greek gods, not Roman, and if you get it wrong in front of Blake, he'll bite your head off," Murphy warned as he handed Ethan his bow.

"Noted," Raven answered, laughing as she pulled her big leather apron out of the trunk of Murphy's car.   "You good?" she asked as she tied it on, then hefted a hammer.  "My costume is ready."  Tunic, brace, apron, hammer, some smudges here and there, and she was ready to go.

"Yeah, not much to being a male Aphrodite," Murphy confirmed dryly, glancing down at his own blue tunic. 

"It's the crown that puts it all together," she responded with a smirk, holding out the finishing touch to his costume.

"Yes, Dad, put it on!" Ethan exhorted him, jumping once in excitement.

Making a face, Murphy carefully put on the myrtle, seashell and rose crown that Cassi and Ethan had put together for him after school with Bellamy's help.  "I hate this," he informed Raven, but quickly added for Ethan, "You did a great job on this.  I just, uh…"

Ethan only heard the good part though, too excited about their group costume to care about Murphy's individual feelings about it.  "Stand next to Raven!"

"You're the one who brought this up.  If you hadn't joked about this last month, Bellamy wouldn't have suggested the costume.  And let's face it, I basically am Hephaestus, what with being awesome at making things, too good for this world, and already having my own limp and brace," Raven described wryly.  "And Ethan is the best little Eros too."

Still, she knew that she was the big reason he'd agreed to this whole group costume.  Ethan could probably be convinced to be just about anything - superhero, robot, zombie, or whatever - but Hephaestus was a costume that worked especially well for her.  Murphy wouldn't deny her the chance to have a great costume that actually incorporated her brace and personality, no matter how embarrassing his own costume ended up as a result.

As a declaration of love, it was pretty damned good.

Murphy grunted, then held out his hand for Ethan to take it.  "Come on, we said we'd meet them at the entrance."

"Yeah!" 

Murphy handed over his wallet, keys and phone, so that Raven could stuff them in the pockets of her apron while Ethan wiggled on the end of his hand.  Eventually, they got themselves up to the entrance, to find that only Wells and Luna had already arrived.

"You guys look great!" Raven called out to them, waving a hello.

Between the nets, the shells and the trident, Luna made a fantastic female Poseidon, while Wells had on a red tunic, a crown made to resemble burning coals, and a fireplace poker for his costume as a male Hestia, goddess, or god as it was, of the hearth.

When Murphy had joked that he was practically a male Aphrodite at a guys' night out last month, Bellamy suggested the idea when they were thinking of costumes for Halloween just a couple of weeks ago.  Seizing on the gender-bending theme, he'd opined that Raven go as Hephaestus, Aphrodite's husband, and Ethan as Eros, her son.  Wells and Luna had gotten into the act, finding gods that they liked to emulate, and naturally, Clarke and Bellamy were on board since it was his idea.  It took only a small bit of persuasion, but soon Octavia and Lincoln had agreed as well.  And the only reason Bryan and Miller weren't a part of the group going to Arkadia's family-friendly Halloween party at the community center was because Bryan had surprised Miller with a trip to a supposedly haunted bed and breakfast in Sleepy Hollow for his birthday.

"Why am I not surprised both Blakes are late?" Murphy asked as he let go of Ethan's hand so the boy could run over to Luna and show off his wings.

"Bellamy and Clarke have four kids to wrangle," Wells immediately defended.

"And I know that Lincoln was volunteering this afternoon, so I'm sure he's the reason Octavia is delayed," Luna added mildly before leaning down and complimenting Ethan's costume.  With a flourish, she produced a candy from a pocket, presenting it to the boy who looked at Murphy for permission.

Murphy nodded and Ethan eagerly unwrapped the chocolate, eating it like he hadn't seen candy in months, let alone the few hours since his father had let him eat a few pieces of the Halloween candy they'd bought at the store.

"He's going to have the worst sugar high tonight," Raven commented with a chuckle.

"And then conk out, promptly at ten," Murphy agreed.

"Raven!"

She turned at hearing Octavia's voice, then grinned widely as the other woman strode up.  Somehow, becoming the male version of Hades involved a lot of smoky eye makeup with an intricately braided hairdo, a black tunic cut up in just the right places, and a stuffed animal version of Cerberus carried under one arm.  

But Lincoln knocked his version of Persephone out of the park.  The sleeveless tunic left his incredibly well-defined arms bare except for the fake ivy they had twined around them and across his shoulders.  A twist of flowers, purple orchids and white lilies, made up both his crown and the bunch gathered over his heart, while a small burlap sack hung over his right shoulder, bearing the label POMEGRANATES.  

"Holy crap, you guys look great," Raven approved.

Everyone spent a few moments cooing over each other costumes, especially Ethan's, which gave Raven a moment to murmur to Murphy, "Just so you know, Lincoln is objectively hot."

"Thanks," he answered dryly, nudging her side.  "Just what I needed to know."

"You're still way subjectively hotter," she assured him, looping an arm around his shoulders and tugging him down to kiss his cheek.  "Plus, you can't tell me you don't think Octavia is hot."

"Don't tell Blake I said this, but she's psycho," Murphy denied.  "Instantly makes someone less hot."

"She is not, she's just passionate," Raven chuckled in reply.

But he only shook his head.  "She lets emotion get the best of her.  I know, I've known her and her brother a long time.  Hell, he's got that too."

"Like you've never lost it?" Raven asked, curious.

"Sure I have, but if I inflict damage, it's for a reason.  They can do it just because they've lost control," he explained, only to be distracted when Ethan came running back over to him.

Being with someone so refreshingly honest about himself and his flaws charmed Raven far more than it should have, since they'd already been together for over a month.  But it gave her a lot of hope for the future, that she still wasn't over the fact she and Murphy had managed to find each other, or how well they not just tolerated each other's issues, but actually enjoyed them.

"They're here!" cried Ethan, the first of their crowd to spot the Griffins as they walked up.

Clarke looked fantastic as a female Apollo, more than filling out the white grecian dress she'd found at a second-hand store and bearing a golden wreath on her head, bangles on her arms and a artist's palette in her hand.  Bellamy looked great too as a male Athena, with armor and the sword at his side.  His look was only a little spoiled by the presence of Cam in his arms, dressed as Ant-Man.

Cole and Charlie were also dressed as Ant-Man, which had been the teen's idea when his Robotics Club had decided to go to Halloween bash together, each as a different Marvel hero.  Charlie convinced Cole to use their resemblance as part of their costumes and then secured Clarke's agreement to use Cam as well.  They were going to take pictures as part of the group, but keep swapping out which sized Ant-Man would be there.

Raven knew that part of the attraction for Cole was hanging out with a couple of girls in the club, Mackenzie, who was going as the female Thor, and Taylor, who was going as the Scarlet Witch.  He'd spoken about it to Ethan, who naturally relayed everything he'd said to Murphy and Raven.

The only Griffin not to be part of the group was Cassi, who'd stuck with her decision to be Mal from a Disney movie about Maleficent's kid.  But her friend Jackie was going as another girl from the movie, so she set off to find her as soon as they made their way inside the center, and immediately Charlie was coaxing Cam away from Clarke too, who suddenly had gotten nervous about his being in charge of the toddler.

As she watched Clarke list off all the rules again to Charlie about watching his brothers to the teen's dismay, Raven whispered to Murphy, "I bet you that Charlie gives Cam back within half an hour, once the pictures are done."

"I'll take that bet," Murphy answered, sounding smug.  "Ethan told me that Mackenzie, the girl Charlie likes, thinks that Cam is the cutest, so I bet he holds out way longer."

"Look at you, knowing all about who has a crush on who," Raven teased him.  "Okay, what are we betting?"

"Next time you're over, the person who loses has to get up first when Ethan gets up," Murphy offered instantly.  

Raven gave him a flat look.  "He always wakes me up first, because he doesn't see me everyday."

"If I tell him that he has to wake me up first so we can surprise you with breakfast in bed, he'll do it," Murphy countered.

"Oh, now that sounds good.  Except you can't make coffee for shit," Raven mused thoughtfully.

"If you win, I'll take the kid and we'll grab breakfast for you from the bagel place.  If you win, I get to sleep in and you can scramble me an egg or something."

Raven held out her hand and they shook on it, but she pulled him in for a quick kiss afterwards.  "Ever think you'd end up in a group costume of Greek gods?"

"Knowing Blake, yeah, it was a possibility," Murphy conceded, snaking an arm around her waist to hold her close.  "Getting to go home with the most subjectively hot goddess though.  That's a little unbelievably awesome."

"So was me falling for a single dad whose first words to me were an insult, yet here we are," Raven replied blithely, stealing another kiss.  "Come on, let's rescue Charlie from Clarke's lecture and get this bet started."

"Sounds good to me," Murphy answered, grabbing her hand as she pulled away and lead him towards the rest of the group.

It sounded really good to Raven too.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to iamblakelocked and @bfl1201 for all beta reading duties! Thank you also to anyone who left kudos, subscribed, commented...it helps so much to know people are interested in the story when you're writing it.
> 
> I may come back to this couple again, but they will definitely be seen again in the continuing Beautiful Life world.


End file.
